Murray Gurfein

Murray Irwin Gurfein (November 17, 1907 – December 16, 1979) was a federal judge in the United States.

Born in New York City, Gurfein attended Columbia College and Harvard Law School. After graduating, he served as a law clerk to Judge Julian Mack and then as an Assistant United States Attorney in New York. He also served as an assistant in the District Attorney's office in Manhattan. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. After military service, he was an assistant to Robert H. Jackson during the first months of Jackson's 1945-1946 service as the U.S. prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trials. Gurfein then returned to New York where he practiced as a lawyer from 1946 to 1971.

Additionally, Gurfein was elected President of HIAS from 1956-1957 and 1960-1967.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Gurfein as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. During his first week as a judge, Gurfein was assigned the Pentagon Papers case and gained national prominence when he refused the government's motion to enjoin publication of the documents. Gurfein's ruling was initially reversed by the Court of Appeals, but ultimately reinstated by the Supreme Court. Gurfein wrote: "The security of the Nation is not at the ramparts alone. Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know."

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