John E. Kingston

He was born on December 11, 1925, in Niagara Falls, New York. The family moved to Nassau County in 1929. He attended Mount Hermon School, and graduated A.B. from Williams College in 1948. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1950, was admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Mineola.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QqBWAAAAYAAJ New York Red Book] (1961–1972; pg. 181)

Kingston was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1960 to 1974, after winning a special election in 1959. He sat in the 172nd, 173rd, 174th, 175th, 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th and 180th New York State Legislatures. He was Majority Leader from 1969 to 1974, and almost 50 years later remains the last Republican Majority Leader of the Assembly.

As chairman of the 1972 Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, Kingston was indicted on December 13, 1973, for violation of Section 457 of State Election Law, along with Perry Duryea, the Speaker of the Assembly.{{Cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/people-v-duryea-4|title = People v. Duryea, 76 Misc. 2d 948 | Casetext Search + Citator}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/14/archives/duryea-and-kingston-plead-not-guilty-in-election-case-duryea-and.html|title = Duryea and Kingston Plead Not Guilty in Election Case|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 14 December 1973|last1 = Lynn|first1 = Frank}} The committee had distributed letters that urged support for the Assembly candidate for the Liberal Party of New York where the Democrat had not been cross-endorsed by the Liberals, when they were actually generated by the Republican Party. The Committee argued that this was legal under the First Amendment of the United States. The indictment was ultimately dismissed on January 24, 1974, on grounds of "overbreadth" of Section 457 citing Dombrowski v. Pfister, Broadrick v. Oklahoma, Plummer v. City of Columbus, and Lovell v. City of Griffin.{{cite web | url=https://casetext.com/case/people-v-duryea-4 | title=People v. Duryea, 76 Misc. 2d 948 | Casetext Search + Citator }} The lower court dismissal of the indictment was upheld on appeal.{{cite web|url=https://cite.case.law/ad2d/44/663/|title=People v. Duryea, 44 A.D.2d 663 (1974)|publisher=Harvard Law School|access-date=January 26, 2022}}

He was a Judge of the Nassau County District Court through 1994, after first being elected in 1989, representing North Hempstead. In November 1994, he was elected to the New York Supreme Court, thereby having won elections in five different decades.[http://www.courts.state.ny.us/history/legal-history-new-york/history-legal-bench-supreme-court.html List of Supreme Court Justices] at the Historical Society of the New York Courts He remained on the bench until retiring shortly before his death.

He died on May 5, 1996;[http://sortedbyname.com/pages/k104884.html "KINGSTON, JOHN E."] at Social Security Info and was buried at the Nassau Knolls Cemetery in Port Washington.

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{{succession box | before = Genesta M. Strong | title = New York State Assembly
Nassau County, 3rd District | years = 1960–1965 | after = district abolished }}

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16th District | years = 1966 | after = George J. Farrell Jr.}}

{{succession box | before = Abe Seldin | title = New York State Assembly
17th District | years = 1967–1972 | after = Joseph M. Margiotta}}

{{succession box | before = Eli Wager | title = New York State Assembly
15th District | years = 1973–1974 | after = Angelo F. Orazio}}

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{{succession box | title = Majority Leader of the New York State Assembly | before = Moses M. Weinstein | years = 1969–1974 | after = Albert H. Blumenthal}}

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Category:1925 births

Category:1996 deaths

Category:People from Niagara Falls, New York

Category:People from Westbury, New York

Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly

Category:Williams College alumni

Category:New York University School of Law alumni

Category:New York Supreme Court justices

Category:20th-century New York state court judges

Category:Burials at Nassau Knolls Cemetery

Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature