Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92, dies while managing active federal trials

Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein died on Wednesday at the age of 92, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Hellerstein was appointed to the federal bench in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. He served for 30 years until his death this week. During that tenure, he handled major litigation connected to the September 11, 2001, attacks and evidence from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He also presided over the trial of David Hu, a Ponzi schemer, and a federal suit against a convicted sex offender. In 2025, he ruled against President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act in a case involving the deportation of Venezuelans.

At the time of his death, Hellerstein was overseeing two high-profile matters. He managed the criminal case against Nicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela. He had taken on that case in January, shortly after his 92nd birthday. He also continued to reject Trump's request to move his New York state criminal case into the Southern District of New York federal courthouse. Trump's lawyers argued that the facts involved official acts of the presidency. A state jury had previously found Trump guilty in that case, which centered on reimbursements to Michael Cohen for a payment to Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.

Hellerstein wrote that reimbursing Cohen for hush money did not relate to a constitutional duty. He added that falsifying business records to hide that reimbursement likewise did not relate to a presidential duty. A 2024 Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity required him to revisit these arguments. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit directed him to reexamine the immunity claims. On Aug. 28, he ruled against Trump again, stating that the trial evidence did not infringe on presidential immunity.

Barry Pollack, an attorney for Maduro, said in a text message that the legal team was saddened by the news and offered condolences to the family. Duncan Levin, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said the judge's death is unlikely to cause major delays in the Maduro trial. Levin noted that there is no automatic pause and no fixed period of delay. He explained that a new judge could keep existing dates or adjust them as needed. Levin said that reading large volumes of paperwork is a core skill for judges.

The court has not yet announced a date for the assignment of a new judge to the pending cases.