Paul A. Crotty

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| honorific-prefix =

| name = Paul A. Crotty

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| office = Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

| term_start = August 1, 2015

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| office1 = Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

| term_start1 = April 13, 2005

| term_end1 = August 1, 2015

| nominator1 =

| appointer1 = George W. Bush

| predecessor1 = Harold Baer Jr.

| successor1 = Lewis J. Liman

| office2 = 75th Corporation Counsel of New York City

| 1blankname2 = Mayor

| 1namedata2 = Rudy Giuliani

| term_start2 = January 1, 1994

| term_end2 = November 6, 1997

| predecessor2 = O. Peter Sherwood

| successor2 = Michael D. Hess

| pronunciation =

| birth_name = Paul Austin Crotty

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|4|1}}

| birth_place = Buffalo, New York, U.S.

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| parents = Margaret and Peter Crotty

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| alma_mater = {{nowrap|University of Notre Dame (BA)}}
Cornell University (LLB)

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Paul Austin Crotty (born April 1, 1941) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Early in his career, he worked as a lawyer at Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, and in the 1980s he was Commissioner of New York City's Office of Financial Services, as well as Finance Commissioner and commissioner for Housing Preservation & Development. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2005.

Early life and education

Paul A. Crotty was born in Buffalo, New York in 1941 to Margaret and Peter Crotty. His father, Peter J. Crotty, was the son of an immigrant longshoreman. Peter Crotty was a lawyer and a politician. The family consisted of six brothers and a daughter; all six of the family's sons became lawyers, including Paul.{{cite news |author=Mara Gay |date=December 10, 1984 |title=THE CROTTYS: CLOSE FAMILY OF 7 LAWYERS|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/10/nyregion/the-crottys-close-family-of-7-lawyers.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York City, United States |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

Crotty received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1962 and a Bachelor of Laws from Cornell Law School in 1967.{{cite news |author=Paul A. Crotty |date= |title=Paul A. Crotty Resume |url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/olp/crottyresume.htm |work=Justic.gov (United States Department of Justice) |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

He was also in the United States Navy Reserve from 1962 to 1968.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Career

He was a law clerk to Judge Lloyd Francis MacMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1967 to 1969.

Crotty entered private practice in New York City at the prominent law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, working there as an associate from 1969 to 1976, and then as a partner from 1976 to 1984, and from 1988 to 1993.

In 1973, he lost a Democratic primary for City Council in on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In February 1984, he was appointed Commissioner of the city's Office of Financial Services, and later that year became Finance Commissioner. From 1984 to 1988, he held several government positions in the Office of Financial Services for the City of New York. He was a commissioner in that office in 1984, and then Commissioner of Finance from 1984 to 1986, and a commissioner for Housing Preservation & Development until 1988.

After having returned to private practice for a time, he became the Corporation Counsel from 1994 to 1997, and group president for the New York and Connecticut region for Verizon Communications from 1997 to 2005.

=Federal judicial service=

On February 14, 2005, Crotty was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Harold Baer Jr. Crotty was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 11, 2005, and received his commission on April 15, 2005. He assumed senior status on August 1, 2015.{{FJC Bio|nid=1392251|inline=yes}}

==Notable rulings==

In April 2014, he ruled on a federal case involving caps on contributions to independent political-action committees in New York. In the case, he ruled the state's $150,000 limit on individual donations to the "super PACs" could be held in light of the 2010 Citizens United ruling.{{cite news |author=Mara Gay |date=April 24, 2014 |title=Court Voids New York Cap on Super PACs |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/contribution-limits-to-super-pacs-in-new-york-state-are-overturned-by-a-federal-judge-1398379415 |work=The Wall Street Journal |location=New York City, United States |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

In 2018, in response to a 2017 immigration change by the Trump administration, he ruled that "the government acted unlawfully by requiring unaccompanied immigrant children to remain detained until an agency's director personally approved their release, a process that delayed their freedom and caused suffering." He also granted class-action status to the legal action that civil rights lawyers for the New York Civil Liberties Union had filed on behalf of one child. According to the NYCLU, about 700 children had been subject to the policy that Crotty struck down, with some detained over a year.{{cite news |author=Larry Neumeister |date=June 27, 2018 |title=Judge outlaws director review step in immigrant child cases

|url=https://www.njherald.com/story/news/2018/06/27/judge-outlaws-director-review-step/3760938007/ |work=New Jersey Herald |location=New Jersey, United States |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

Also in 2018, he ruled against the detainment by ICE of a pizza delivery man, who had been arrested while delivering food to a Brooklyn army base. He granted a stay of deportation while the man pursued permanent residency.{{cite news |author=Liz Robbins |date=July 24, 2018 |title=Pizza Delivery Man Detained by ICE Is Freed by Judge |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/nyregion/pizza-deliveryman-deportation-judge-questions.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York City, New York |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

In 2020, he presided on Melendez v. Sirius XM Radio Inc, a lawsuit by John Melendez of the Howard Stern show against Sirius XM, dismissing it in June 2021.{{cite news |author=Jonathan Stempel |date=June 24, 2021 |title='Stuttering John' from Howard Stern show loses lawsuit against Sirius XM |url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/stuttering-john-howard-stern-show-loses-lawsuit-against-sirius-xm-2021-06-24/ |work=Reuters |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

After overseeing the original trial,{{cite news |author=Associated Press |date=March 9, 2020 |title=Minor convictions for ex-CIA coder in hacking tools case |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/09/minor-convictions-ex-cia-coder-124552 |work=Politico |location= |access-date=May 9, 2025}} in 2020, he oversaw the retrial of a former CIA software engineer, Joshua Schulte, accused of leaking secrets through WikiLeaks, in an espionage case.{{cite news |author= |date=June 2020 |title=June retrial date set for ex-CIA engineer in leak case |url=https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/june-retrial-date-set-for-ex-cia-engineer-in-leak-case/amp/ |work=WJHL |location= |access-date=May 9, 2025}} In 2020, he allowed the defendant to represent himself.{{cite news |author=Associated Press |date=July 26, 2021 |title=Judge: Ex-CIA worker can represent himself in espionage case |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/judge-ex-cia-worker-can-represent-himself-in-espionage-case/ |work=The Seattle Times |location=Seattle, Washington |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

In 2022, he was the judge in a case challenging New York Mayor Eric Adams' plan to take mentally ill homeless people to hospitals against their will.{{cite news |author=Andy Newman |date=December 9, 2022 |title=Advocates for Mentally Ill New Yorkers Ask Court to Halt Removal Plan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/nyregion/nyc-mental-health-restraining-order.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York City, New York |access-date=May 9, 2025}}

In May 2022, as Senior U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty of the Southern District of New York, he granted an injunction to the Upsolve legal advice program, arguing their right to offer legal advice was likely protected by the First Amendment.{{cite news |author=Debra Cassens Weiss |date=January 9, 2024 |title=Paralegals' suit claims First Amendment right to offer legal advice on court forms |url=https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/paralegals-suit-claims-a-first-amendment-right-to-offer-legal-advice-on-court-forms |work=ABA Journal |access-date=May 9, 2025}} In 2023, he oversaw the sexual lawsuit case against Cuba Gooding Junior, which was settled before going to trial.{{cite news |author=AP |date=June 6, 2023 |title=Cuba Gooding Jr. settles lawsuit over New York City rape accusation before trial, court records say |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuba-gooding-jr-settles-civil-sex-abuse-case-averting-trial/ |work=CBS News |location= |access-date=May 9, 2025}}