Madeline Singas
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Madeline Singas (born 1966) is an American attorney and judge who serves as an
associate judge Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some state ...
of the
New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...
since 2021. Born in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, in 1966, Singas is the first
Greek American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...
to serve on the New York Court of Appeals.


Early life and education

Singas was born in 1966, into a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
family, and grew up in
Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...
. She graduated from
The Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...
in
Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...
. She earned degrees at
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York City and
Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...
.


Legal career

Before joining the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, Singas was an assistant district attorney in the
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
borough of
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. She began there in 1991, and worked in the Domestic Violence Bureau. After joining the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, she was appointed chief of the newly-created Special Victims Bureau in 2006 by Nassau County district attorney Kathleen Rice. Singas became Chief Assistant District Attorney in Nassau County in 2011.


District attorney of Nassau County

Singas served as acting Nassau DA starting in January 2015, assuming the role following Rice's election to Congress. Upon taking office, Singas became the first Greek-American and the second woman to become the top law enforcement official of Nassau County. She was elected in November 2015 and took office for a four-year term in January 2016. During an interview with
Bill Ritter August William Ritter Jr. (born September 6, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of Colorado from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the district attorney for Denver before his ele ...
in late 2017, referring to crimes committed by
MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Ange ...
gang members, Singas stated: "The crimes that we're talking about are brutal. Their weapon of choice is a machete. We end up seeing people with injuries that I've never seen before. You know, limbs hacked off. And that's what the bodies look like that we're recovering. So they're brutal. They're ruthless, and we're gonna be relentless in our attacks against them." On March 27, 2018, Singas announced the establishment of the Nassau County School & Community Safety Task Force to enhance the security of schools, colleges, places of worship, and public buildings. The Task Force is chaired by Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Community Relations, Joyce Smith. Among the Task Force's goals is to "prepare a training curriculum for educators and mental health practitioners regarding the health and safety exceptions to . . . privacy laws such as the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1 ...
(HIPAA) and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
are frequently cited by medical professionals and school officials as obstacles to information-sharing regarding potential threats."


Appointment as special prosecutor

In May 2018, in the wake of allegations of sexual assault by then-attorney general
Eric Schneiderman Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
,
New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a ...
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
appointed Singas as special prosecutor to investigate such allegations, as well as any facts "suggesting that the attorney general staff and office resources may have been used to facilitate alleged abusive liaisons."


Public policy advocacy

On April 3, 2018, Singas appeared at a rally and spoke before an audience of about 200 people at Temple Beth Israel, a synagogue in
Port Washington, New York Port Washington is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the Cow Neck Peninsula in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), No ...
, advocating in favor of what she described as common sense gun legislation. She was quoted as having said: "Why is legislation so difficult to get passed? I don’t know the answer to that question." Singas was the defendant in a federal constitutional case, ''Maloney v. Singas'' (formerly ''Maloney v. Rice''), in which the plaintiff is seeking a declaration that he has a constitutional right to possess
nunchaku is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person wh ...
, a martial-arts weapon, in his home for peaceful martial-arts practice and home defense. In that case, through counsel, Singas has argued that
nunchaku is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person wh ...
are "dangerous and unusual" weapons that may be banned totally even for such use.


New York court of appeals service

On May 25, 2021, governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he would nominate Singas to serve as an
associate judge Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some state ...
of the
New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...
, replacing
Leslie Stein Leslie E. Stein (born 1956) is a former judge on New York State's Court of Appeals. Stein was appointed to the court by Governor Andrew Cuomo in late 2014, and was confirmed by the New York State Senate on February 9, 2015. Early life The daught ...
. She was confirmed by the
New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...
on June 8, 2021, and took office that same day. Her formal investiture ceremony took place on April 5, 2022.


Personal

She lives in
Manhasset, New York Manhasset is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York. It is considered the anchor communi ...
, and is married with two children.


See also

* List of Fordham University School of Law alumni *
List of Bronx High School of Science alumni The following is a list of notable people who attended the Bronx High School of Science. Science Nobel Prize-winning scientists The Bronx High School of Science counts eight Nobel Prize recipients as graduates. Seven of these Nobel laureates rec ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singas, Madeline 1966 births 21st-century American judges 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women politicians Barnard College alumni Fordham University alumni Judges of the New York Court of Appeals Lawyers from Queens, New York Living people Nassau County District Attorneys People from Astoria, Queens People from Manhasset, New York Politicians from Nassau County, New York Politicians from New York City The Bronx High School of Science alumni 21st-century American women judges