Sylvia Pressler (April 10, 1934 – February 15, 2010) was an American judge who served in a number of positions within the
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
judicial system. She is best known for deciding a landmark 1973 case which allowed girls to compete in Little League baseball in New Jersey, and which resulted in the organization changing its charter to allow girls to play in its league nationally. Pressler served as the Chief Judge of the Appellate Division of the
New Jersey Superior Court
The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts: under Article Six of the State Consti ...
for five years. Prior to this she was the Presiding Judge for 15 years. She officially retired from the bench in 2004. A graduate of
Rutgers School of Law–Newark
Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...
at a time when the legal profession was still dominated by men, Judge Pressler was the second woman to sit on the appellate division in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, and was one of the first women to clerk for an appellate division judge.
Biography
Pressler was born as Sylvia Diane Brodsky in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, the daughter of
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
immigrants from
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. Her father died when she was a young girl. Growing up in the
Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, she attended
Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...
. She attended
Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing.
Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...
and later
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
for her undergraduate studies, earning her degree in 1955, and earned her law degree from
Rutgers School of Law–Newark
Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...
. She met her husband, with whom she would later have two children, when they were both working in a restaurant in 1953. At the time that she earned her degree, the law profession in the United States was male-dominated. Pressler became one of the first women in the state to clerk for an appellate judge. For a time, she worked in private practice and as city attorney for
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...
. In 1973, she was appointed to the bench in
Bergen County
Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The following year, she was appointed to the appellate division of the Superior Court, one of the first women to serve in that role.
In 1973, when serving as a Hearing Examiner for the New Jersey Department of Civil Rights, Pressler ruled on the landmark case that opened Little League baseball to girls. The case had its origins in the previous year, when a twelve-year-old girl in
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...
, was forced to quit a Little League baseball after only three games when national Little League authorities threatened to revoke the charter of the local league. A case was filed on behalf of the girl by the
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
. Pressler was assigned the case. She ruled in a strongly worded decision that the girl should have been allowed to play, writing:
The institution of Little League is as American as the hot dog and apple pie. There is no reason why that part of Americana should be withheld from girls.
Her decision forced Little League to allow girls to play everywhere in New Jersey, and was met with protests from the national Little League organization, which called the ruling vindictive and prejudicial. The following year, the organization changed its charter nationally to allow girls to play on its teams anywhere in the United States, and created a softball division as well. According to her husband, David Pressler, she did not think that the Little League case was a difficult one to decide.
In 1997, Pressler became the first woman to be appointed as Presiding Judge of the state's appellate division, and took on additional administrative responsibilities. Over the course of her career, she issued hundreds of decisions, though few as widely covered in the media as the Little League case. In 1993, she decided a second prominent case, ''In re. Adoption of Two Children by H.N.R.'' (666 A.2d 535, N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1995), giving gay couples the right to adopt the children of their partners, writing that, "They function together as a family." In 2004, her decision imposing a moratorium on the death penalty in New Jersey until the state's procedures could guarantee the rights of the defendant was followed three years later by legislative action banning the death penalty entirely.
Her decisions were not without critics. In 1983, State Senator Gerald Cardinale attempted to block her reappointment to the Superior Court by invoking
senatorial courtesy
Senatorial courtesy is a long-standing, unwritten, unofficial, and nonbinding constitutional convention in the U.S. describing the tendency of U.S. senators to support a Senate colleague opposing the appointment to federal office of a nominee f ...
. Senate President Carmen A. Orechio removed Cardinale's ability to block her nomination, citing the fact that he had previously appeared before Judge Pressler in a legal matter, and her nomination was approved. She retired from the bench in 2004. Pressler was awarded the medal of honor of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in recognition of her service to that state's justice system. Judge Pressler died on February 15, 2010, following a battle with
lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...
at her home in Sparta Township, New Jersey, at the age of 75. She was survived by her husband, David Pressler and their two children and three grandchildren.
Until her death, Pressler was the commentator and annotator of the Gann Law Books edition of the Rules Governing the Courts of the State of New Jersey, which are the most commonly used edition of the Court Rules in New Jersey; the duties have since been taken over by former Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice Peter Verniero, but Pressler is still credited on new editions.