Loretta Preska

Loretta A. Preska (born January 7, 1949) is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Born in Albany, Preska received law degrees from Fordham University School of Law and New York University School of Law.

Preska was born in Albany, New York, on January 7, 1949, to her father, Victor, an engineer at Benét Laboratories at Watervliet Arsenal, and her mother, Etta Mae, a registered nurse.

She is of Lithuanian descent.

She grew up in the Albany suburb of Delmar, where she was active in the Girl Scouts and graduated from Bethlehem Central High School.

She earned her B.A. degree in chemistry from the College of Saint Rose (1970), her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law (1973), and her LL.M from New York University School of Law (1978).

Her LL.M work focused on trade regulation.

She practiced law in New York City from 1973 to 1992 at the law firms of Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Hertzog, Calamari & Gleason (now Winston & Strawn).

Preska was an attorney in private practice in New York City from 1973 until 1992.

She worked at Cahill Gordon & Reindel from 1973 to 1982, and then at Hertzog, Calamari & Gleason from 1982 until her appointment to the federal bench.

She primarily practiced commercial civil litigation in the federal courts, but also represented several officers of EF Hutton in grand jury proceedings in connection with a case in which the company entered criminal guilty pleas.

She cites Floyd Abrams as a friend and mentor.

President George H. W. Bush appointed her to the district bench in 1992.

Preska was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on March 31, 1992, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Robert Joseph Ward.

Senator Al D'Amato recommended the nomination.

Preska was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 1992, by unanimous consent.

She received her commission the following day.

Her confirmation was part of a "bipartisan package" that also including the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor (who later became a Supreme Court justice).

Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate to the district bench the same day, also unanimously.

In Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp. (1996), Preska ruled that an image of the actor Leslie Nielsen seemingly pregnant that mimicked a similar photo of Demi Moore was fair use as parody.

In National Basketball Association v. Motorola, Inc. (1997), Preska ruled in favor of the NBA, granting a permanent injunction blocking Motorola Inc. and a statistics company from transmitting real-time basketball scores and other statistics through its "SportsTrax" pager service.

Preska ruled that the service was a commercial misappropriation rather than mere media coverage, but dismissed the NBA's copyright and Lanham Act false-advertising claims.

On appeal, the Second Circuit vacated the injunction, finding that the service was neither an unlawful misappropriation nor a Lanham Act violation.

Her ruling was upheld by the Second Circuit in 1998.

Preska presided over the case of Mastercard International Inc. v. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (2006), brought by MasterCard against FIFA after the soccer association awarded sponsorship deals for the next two World Cups to MasterCard's rival Visa.

Preska ruled in December 2006 that FIFA had violated its previous 16-year sponsorship contract with MasterCard, which included a clause granting MasterCard a right of first refusal.

The parties subsequently settled the case.

In 2007, it was reported that Preska was on President George W. Bush's short list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

President George W. Bush nominated Preska to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 2008, but the Senate did not act on the nomination.

On September 9, 2008, Bush nominated Preska to a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to replace Judge Chester J. Straub, who retired.

The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated Preska "well qualified" for the circuit judgeship, the committee's highest rating.

She served as chief judge of the court for a seven-year term from 2009 to 2016, and took senior status in 2017.

Preska served as chief judge of the court for a seven-year term from June 1, 2009, to May 31, 2016, succeeding Kimba M. Wood in the role.

As chief judge, Preska pressed for more adequate funding for the federal judiciary, which suffered from the effects of the Great Recession and budget sequestration.

The Senate did not act on the nomination, and it expired in January 2009 at the end of the 110th Congress, upon the sine die adjournment of the Senate.

Preska is considered a conservative judge, and served on the advisory board of the Federalist Society.

Preska has presided over a number of notable cases.

In 2010, as chief judge, Preska issued an order permitting criminal defense attorneys to carry mobile phones into the courthouse; previously, only federal prosecutors were permitted to do so.

The rule change followed several years of lobbying by the Federal Bar Council.

She took senior status on March 1, 2017.