Alvin K. Hellerstein kept working until the end. Hellerstein, the Hellerstein Maduro judge who was set to preside over Nicolás Maduro’s trial, has died at 92, and the biggest case on his docket now needs a new judge.
The court said he died of natural causes, just shy of his 93rd birthday, according to ABC News.
Hellerstein sat on the Southern District of New York bench in Manhattan. He had also handled Trump litigation and the long-running 9/11 lawsuits. Most readers know that docket from the headlines. Few know how many people it touched.
Who Judge Alvin Hellerstein was
President Bill Clinton appointed him in 1998. He took senior status in 2011, which is a kind of semi-retirement. He kept a full docket anyway. Before the bench, he served in the Army JAG Corps and worked as a Manhattan litigator.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain announced the death in a statement. She said his “energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death,” as The Hill reported. NPR noted earlier this year that he was more than 20 years older than the average federal judge.
What happens to the case now that the Maduro trial judge has died
U.S. forces captured Maduro earlier this year in a military raid in Caracas. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, face a superseding indictment filed in early October. It charges them with conspiracy to commit torture against Americans and others to stay in power. For the full list of allegations, see our breakdown of the torture charges against Maduro and his wife.
At the arraignment, Maduro twice defied the judge’s request to enter a plea. Hellerstein said, “a plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro,” per the AP.
He denied Flores’ bail request at an Oct. 8 hearing and said he would preside over the trial. The trial is set for June 2027, and Fox News puts the date at June 1.
So who takes over? The court says it will randomly assign Maduro’s case and Hellerstein’s other matters to another federal judge. The court has not announced a name or a date. Law.com reports it is not yet clear how his death will affect the schedule.
Here’s the thing: a new judge means a new clock
A replacement judge has to get up to speed on a sprawling, high-security case with a lot of paper. That could happen in time. It could also push the timeline.
That is the question to watch. Nobody has said so yet, and we won’t guess. The stakes reach well beyond the courtroom, as our look at Venezuela after Maduro explains.
The Trump cases ran through the SDNY judge’s court too
Trump’s bids to move his New York hush-money case to federal court landed in Hellerstein’s courtroom three times. In August, he rejected the request for the third time. That came after the 2nd Circuit told him to reconsider. The appeals court said he failed to consider “important issues relevant” to the request, and it took no position on the outcome, per the AP.
Whether that matter goes anywhere on appeal is not clear from the reporting. The same goes for any later filings. His death doesn’t answer it.
The 9/11 families and the cases you didn’t see
For about two decades, he presided over dozens of 9/11 wrongful-death, injury and property-damage suits. Lawyers say he met victims’ families in chambers for hours and turned down low-ball settlements. Others criticized his 2008 ruling that ended a push to force New York City to keep searching for human remains at the Staten Island landfill.
His docket also included Michael Cohen, whom he ordered released from prison in 2020. He found that the government’s move to revoke home confinement was retaliatory and violated the First Amendment. He rejected an eight-figure proposed settlement in a civil suit involving Harvey Weinstein. Crain’s New York Business reports he also oversaw the case against Archegos founder Bill Hwang.
Colleagues knew him as unconventional. He required spectators to wear pandemic-era masks for more than two years after other judges stopped. At the Oct. 8 hearing, he said of his voice, “As long as you can understand — hear me, I’ll keep going.”
What to watch after the Hellerstein Maduro judge’s death
Watch for three things: the name of the new judge on the Maduro case, whether the June 2027 trial date holds, and how the Trump hush-money matter moves in the weeks ahead. The court has not yet announced a memorial or funeral.
One housekeeping note: Fox News says he died Tuesday, but the AP, The Hill and Law.com all say Wednesday, Oct. 28, so that’s what we’re using.
He kept working until the end. Now the most closely watched case on his docket is headed to someone new, and the next question is who, and how soon.
