Judge Sidney Aronovitz

 Guest Post By Cary Aronovitz 

Sidney Aronovitz – 1976-1997 – Southern District of Florida

It is an honor to write a post about my Grandfather, Sidney Aronovitz.  He was the descendent of Romanian Jews who fled persecution in Europe seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  A proud Conch—born and raised in Key West—he went to law school at the University of Florida before serving as a Captain in the United States army during World War II.  He married my Grandma Eleanor, raised three children Elaine, Tod, and Karen, and then worked in private practice and as a City of Miami Commissioner: always believing in the importance of public service.  He was then appointed in 1976 by President Gerald Ford as the first Jewish judge in the Southern District of Florida.  When my Dad, Tod Aronovitz, served as President of the Florida Bar in 2002 he wrote a page to honor our judges, focusing on Sidney Aronovitz and Bill Hoeveler.  That article—as true today as ever—summarizes it best:

Judges, all too often, are misunderstood. More times than not they toil in solitude, silently wrestle with difficult decisions, quietly seek truth and fairness in their courtrooms, and receive no fanfare.

In 1976, U.S. Senators Lawton Chiles and Robert Stone recommended Sidney Aronovitz to President Gerald Ford to become a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida. My father was a Key West native, a highly regarded local Miami general corporate practitioner, and an active community leader. It took President Ford two long years to make the appointment. My father made President Ford, the U.S. Senate, his family, and his community proud by his dedication to judging.

He was a compassionate man, a legal scholar, and was fair to everyone who entered his courtroom—attorney, litigant, witness, or a person being sentenced. He truly loved being a judge, including the challenges, the demands, and the results achieved in completing a task well. Most judges exhibit the same qualities and the same judicial goals.

During his 22 years on the bench, he brought home a stuffed briefcase six days a week and would labor over complex cases and difficult criminal sentencing issues. He would only speak of the outstanding, well-prepared, articulate attorneys who came before him. The poorly prepared lawyers were never the subject of his conversations. His pride in his judicial colleagues was noteworthy. I see in the eyes of Florida’s judges the same pride.

Four-month multi-defendant criminal trials with a sequestered jury were grueling, especially when a literal mountain of heavily footnoted briefs from his other pending cases awaited his attention. Receiving U.S. Marshal Service protection 24 hours a day—and even moving from Miami to North Carolina once for safety reasons—was a part of his job.

I asked his dear friend and “bookend” on the Southern District bench, always-admired Senior U.S. District Court Judge William Hoeveler: “What does being a judge mean to you?” He responded, “I love the law and all of the collateral requirements that go with it. . . . Being a judge is hard work, long hours, and attention to the rights of the parties. It involves cases in which we have to make difficult decisions, often in situations where you find it difficult, but necessary, to rule. All in all, however, I go home satisfied with my effort to seek the truth.”

I then wanted to know of Judge Hoeveler: “What is the biggest misperception people have about being a judge?” He said, “The average citizen thinks that we get cases assigned and then we go off to try cases before a jury, and that is the end of it. The citizen who serves as a juror comes to realize what work there is in connection with the case.”

When my father was in failing health, I sat by his side while he was being admitted in a Miami hospital emergency room. Behind the admissions clerk we saw a news bulletin on CNN advising that Panamanian General Manuel Noriega was being transported to Miami to stand trial before Judge William Hoeveler. With difficulty breathing, he turned to me and said, “Bill will do a great job on that case.”

I knew my grandfather as Grandpa, not as a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida.  Still, his legacy continues with the lives of so many attorneys, judges, clerks, and litigants he shaped along the way.  Those judges and lawyers (including Judges Robert Mark and Federico Moreno) advocated and succeeded in renaming the Key West courthouse after Sidney Aronovitz.

FBA write-up below

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Judge Sidney Aronovitz was nominated to the district court by President Ford and served from 1976 to 1997. A third-generation Key West native, Judge Aronovitz obtained both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army during World War II, earning a Bronze Star for his service. 

A notable case of his was Polgreen v. Morris, 496 F. Supp. 1042 (S.D. Fla. 1982), In 1980, during the Mariel boatlift, plaintiffs—owners/captains of commercial fishing and shrimping vessels—transported Cuban refugees from Mariel Harbor to Key West. When they returned, federal authorities served them with notices of intention to fine under the immigration statutes and seized (constructively seized) their vessels, effectively grounding the boats unless substantial bonding/conditions were met.

Judge Aronovitz held that, even if the government could lawfully seize the vessels without a pre-seizure hearing, the Fifth Amendment required prompt post-seizure notice and a timely hearing at which the owners/operators could contest the propriety of the seizure, regardless of which statutory authority the government invoked. Because the government did not provide an adequate, prompt post-seizure forum, Judge Aronovitz issued a preliminary injunction allowing plaintiffs to resume lawful domestic fishing/shrimping use of their vessels (subject to bond/conditions). He wrote, in part:

"For what occurred, America is a greater nation. The manner in which the Cuban nationals were received, having been victimized by the Castro government, and being the pawns of the Cuban Freedom Flotilla, is stark evidence of that humanitarian quality which separates the United States of America from the chains imposed by those countries wherein freedom to pursue life, liberty and enjoy the fruits thereof is subjugated to the whim of the government."