Roger Jeffrey Miner (April 14, 1934 – February 18, 2012) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Su ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York (state), New York, and Vermont, and it has ap ...

and a United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of New York The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (in case citations, N.D.N.Y.) serves one of the 94 judicial districts in the United States and one of four in the state of New York. Appeals from the Northern District of Ne ...

Education and career

Miner was born on April 14, 1934, in

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...

in 1956. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

from

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

in 1977. He served as a Captain in the

United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army, also known as the U.S. Army JAG Corps, is the legal arm of the United States Army. It is composed of Army officers who are also lawyers ("judge advocates"), who provide legal service ...

from 1956 to 1959. He was in private practice of law in Hudson from 1959 to 1975. He was corporation counsel for the City of Hudson, New York from 1961 to 1964. He was an assistant district attorney of Columbia County, New York in 1964. He was the district attorney of Columbia County from 1968 to 1975. He was an adjunct associate professor, Columbia-Greene Community College from 1974 to 1979. He was a justice of the

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

from 1976 to 1981. He was an adjunct professor, New York Law School from 1986 to 1996. He was an adjunct professor of

Albany Law School Albany Law School is a private law school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest independent law school in the nation. It is accredited by the American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary ...

Union University Union University is a private Baptist university in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville. The university is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). It was estab ...

from 1997 until his death.

Federal judicial service

Miner was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

on July 28, 1981, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge James Thomas Foley. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on September 25, 1981, and received commission on September 28, 1981. His service was terminated on August 2, 1985, due to elevation to the court of appeals. Miner was nominated by President Reagan on June 25, 1985, to the

, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. He was confirmed by the Senate on July 22, 1985, and received commission the same day. He assumed senior status on January 1, 1997 due to a certified disability, serving in that status until his death.

Supreme Court consideration

In 1987 after Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination was rejected by the Senate, President Reagan considered appointing Miner. Miner was alongside eventual nominee

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Pres ...

and Ralph K. Winter Jr. one of three candidates considered acceptable by the Senate’s Democratic majority under the leadership of

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

and

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...

. Miner was, however, opposed by some Senate Republicans, and drew strong opposition from

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

and right-to-work groups, because of his refusal to state his position on abortion. The seat, formerly held by Lewis F. Powell Jr, ultimately went to Kennedy.

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...

, the junior Senator from New York, served as his law clerk from 1992-1993.

Notable case

In January 1987 Miner and Jon O. Newman heard ''

Salinger v. Random House ''Salinger v. Random House, Inc.'', 811 F.2d 90 (2d Cir. 1987) is a United States case on the application of copyright law to unpublished works. In a case about author J. D. Salinger's unpublished letters, the Second Circuit held that the right ...

'', deciding that with unpublished works the right of the copyright owner to control publication took precedence over the right of "

fair use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...

". This was interpreted as setting the right of an individual to privacy ahead of the public right to know.

Death

Roger Miner died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

at his

home. He was survived by his wife, Jacqueline, several sons and a brother.

References

External links

*
Archival Collection of Judge Roger J. Miner: 1981-2012
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Roger Jeffrey 1934 births 2012 deaths People from Hudson, New York 20th-century American Jews County district attorneys in New York (state) Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York New York Law School alumni New York Law School faculty New York (state) lawyers New York Supreme Court justices New York (state) Republicans United States Army officers United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 21st-century American Jews