First portrait post of 2026 is Judge Joseph Oscar Eaton. He was a state senator before his time as a judge. FBA write up below.
Judge Joseph Oscar Eaton was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson and served on the district court from 1967-2008. Prior to his judicial service, Judge Eaton served in the U.S. Air Force, reaching the rank of major. In Diaz v. Weinberger, 361 F. Supp. 1 (S.D. Fla. 1973), a three-judge panel including Judge Eaton struck down the five-year continuous residency requirement for non-citizens seeking Medicare supplemental insurance, holding that it violated the Fifth Amendment due process clause by discriminatorily excluding lawful immigrant seniors—such as Cuban refugees—from essential medical benefits without a rational basis.
2 comments:
Very deceptive and misleading post. While Judge Eaton did rule that the statute was unconstitutional, that decision was overruled by a unanimous Supreme Court (Justice Stevens authored the opinion), 96 S.Ct. 1883. You leave readers with the impression that this opinion is good law. It is not. A bit of trivia. Bruce Rogow represented the appellees before the Supremes.
Jude Eaton was a remarkably smart and fair judge. So much so that in a case I had before him I trusted him to strictly follow the law and waived a jury trial. I feared that a jury would consider my defense theory "a mere technicality." It was the only time I had ever waived a jury. Judge Eaton acquitted my client.
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