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Who We Are . . .

Doris L. Sassower

J.D., New York University Law School, Co-Founder. Renowned nationally as a pioneer feminist and leader of the women's rights movement before the movement was recognized as a movement, "mother of joint custody," and well known for her work as a divorce law and judicial reformer, she had a distinguished 35-year career at the bar (Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, 1989 ed.), with her own law firm, when, as a result of her judicial whistleblowing, she was viciously retaliated against in June 1991 by a due processless politically-motivated suspension of her law license for having sought to expose the corruption of judicial elections by powerful party bosses in both Republican and Democratic parties. As pro bono counsel to the Ninth Judicial Committee, CJA's predecessor grassroots local group, in 1990, she challenged a corrupt political deal between the Republican and Democratic parties for cross-endorsement of seven judges over  a three-year period in the Ninth Judicial District of New York (the infamous "Three-Year Deal" in the groundbreaking case of Castracan v. Colavita, et al. SEE Where Do You Go When Judges Break the Law?, CJA's $16,770 Op-Ed page ad, New York Times (October 26, 1994); Restraining 'Liars in the Courtroom' and on the Public Payroll, CJA's $3,077 ad, New York Law Journal (August 27, 1997).  In 1997, Doris was honored by the National Giraffe Award, recognizing “the courageous actions” of “those who stick their necks out for the public good.”  She died in October 2019, eulogized by her daughter Elena, here

 


Elena Ruth Sassower

Co-Founder and Director of CJA. She is the daughter of not just one judicial whistleblower, Doris L. Sassower, but two.  Her father, who died in January 2019, was George Sassower, who -- years before her mother -- was viciously retaliated against and stripped of his law license.  Having been raised by such courageous legal giants, Elena formally joined the battle against judicial corruption in 1990.  She is the moving force behind CJA's commitment to evidence-based advocacy.  Among her battle scars, her six-month incarceration in 2004 on a trumped-up "disruption of Congress" charge for respectfully requesting to testify about documentary evidence establishing the corruption of a federal judicial nominee at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's public hearing on his confirmation.  



Anonymous -- Chief Forensic Investigator/CJA's New York State Fiscal Accountability Project

 

 




Advisory Board

Gary Zerman

J.D.  Click here for further info


Carl Bernofsky

Ph.D., former professor of biochemistry, Tulane University School of Medicine and Consultant and professor of biochemistry, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Graduate School of Medicine.  He is an advocate for ethical reform as it applies to judicial conflict of interest and the constitutional rights of litigants and a proponent of legislation to broaden and enforce judicial codes of conduct and accountability.   Click here for further info

 

more coming soon

 

 

 

 

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