Judge Frederic Block, who once wrote that he wished he could have overseen O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, has always reveled in the spotlight.
Now, at 91, Judge Block may get his own celebrity trial. He is presiding over the case of Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug lord charged with orchestrating the 1985 murder of an undercover D.E.A. agent — a killing that was dramatized in the Netflix series “Narcos.” Mr. Caro Quintero may face the death penalty.
It could be years before Mr. Caro Quintero goes on trial in Judge Block’s courtroom. And Judge Block could face a lengthy challenge of his fitness, endurance and ability to filter his courtroom vocabulary.
America’s judges, like its elected officials, are getting older. In 2020, the average age of federal judges was 69, older than in any point in history, according to The Ohio State Law Journal. In 2023, Pauline Newman, a 96-year-old federal judge, was suspended amid concerns over her mental fitness.
There are no indications that Judge Block, one of the nation’s oldest district court judges, is unfit for the task. He maintains an active life, attending operas, musicals and live jazz performances in his free time, and has full command of his courtroom.
“Most people think I still function pretty well as a federal judge,” Judge Block said as he leaned back in a leather couch in his chambers in Brooklyn’s Federal District Court, wearing a purple shirt and Nike sneakers. “I speak better than Biden.”
Since being nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1994, Judge Block has built a reputation as an outspoken jurist with little regard for conformity. He has urged informality, appearing at times both self-deprecating and self-aggrandizing — and has been a relentless self-promoter.
Having assumed senior status in 2012, Judge Block handles a reduced caseload. But he still injects his characteristic “Blockisms” in court proceedings.
During an April hearing for a man who was accused of violating his terms of release, Judge Block offered to tell both sides “what’s circulating in my brain, to the extent I still have a brain.” He then proceeded to chide the man, a drug offender who had been caught with heroin. Judge Block, irritated that the man had flouted “my very lenient sentence,” revoked his supervised release and sentenced him to eight months in prison.
“Judge Block is not to be dealt with this way,” he said, deploying the third person. “You’re going to think about how you don’t want to violate Judge Block’s trust again.”
Judge Block describes his approach as “humanizing the court,” which he says helps jurors follow his instructions and gets opposing parties to agree.
“Most federal judges will put on a very serious air when they’re in court,” said Scott M. Rose, who clerked for Judge Block in the 1990s. “Judge Block will crack a joke in the middle of a hearing.”
Judge Block, who has four adult children and eight grandchildren, lives in the West Village with his second wife. He grew up in Brooklyn and on the Upper West Side and graduated from Cornell Law School in 1959. He worked at a small firm on Long Island before starting his own practice.
Gary Villanueva, a defense lawyer who often represents poorer and indigent clients, said he was always reassured by Judge Block’s relatively humble background. That made him a fair adjudicator of cases involving the “marginal” clients Mr. Villanueva said he represented.
Mr. Villanueva never left Judge Block’s courtroom feeling that his “client wasn’t heard, that his history wasn’t heard, that his background wasn’t taken into consideration,” he said.
Unlike most federal judges, he not only makes himself available to reporters, but suggests they advance his work. Through a public-relations team, Judge Block has vigorously promoted his latest projects, including a planned documentary on the criminal justice system and his stand-up comedy sideline at a New York club. (He has performed under the name Felix Schmeckler.)
After Mr. Caro Quintero’s most recent appearance in his court on June 25, Judge Block retired to his chambers. There, he was flanked by his literary agent and a public relations specialist, who impressed the importance of Judge Block’s works upon a reporter.
Judge Block’s style has, at times, made headlines. Judge Block once told a defendant of Asian origin that, if he skipped bail, the judge would “have egg foo yong on my face.” He told a Black prosecutor in 2015 that it was “good to see so many dark faces in the courthouse,” and called a discrimination case a “stupid little trial” within earshot of a juror, according to The New York Daily News.
“It’s gotten him in trouble a couple of times,” said Raymond J. Dearie, a senior district judge in the Eastern District. “He tries to be entertaining.”
He is expected to be serious about the death penalty, which could be one of the central issues in the Caro Quintero case.
Judge Block has been critical of the application of capital punishment and, while presiding over a trial of a drug dealer in 2007, he dropped an infamous Blockism: He told prosecutors in the case that seeking the death penalty was “absurd” and a waste of taxpayer money. Afterward, the front page of The Daily News declared him “Judge Blockhead.”
Judge Block stands by his approach, noting that in the case of the Asian defendant, “everyone in the courtroom laughed,” and that he would “do the same thing again.” Though he said he regretted the “dark faces” comment, he said it was taken out of context, and that he meant it as a compliment.
“I’m the least bigoted judge on the bench,” Judge Block said.
If prosecutors do seek the death penalty against Mr. Caro Quintero, there are likely to be numerous motions challenging the constitutionality of the government’s case, as is typical in death cases. Picking a jury would also be an arduous endeavor for any judge, with jury pools for death penalty cases often exceeding 1,000 people.
All federal jurists need greater oversight of their fitness, said Francis Shen, a professor at the University of Minnesota who wrote the law journal article on aging judges. The judges, who are appointed for life, would ideally receive routine, private assessments of their cognitive functions, Mr. Shen said.
But Mr. Shen said he was strongly opposed to creating a mandatory retirement age for federal judges, which he said would be both unconstitutional and needlessly deplete legal wisdom from the judiciary.
“I have no problem with a 91-year-old judge, so long as they can do the job,” he said.
Dr. Timothy Farrell, a geriatrician and associate chief for age-friendly care at the University of Utah, stressed that while age was a factor in certain chronic conditions, it alone was insufficient in determining someone’s capacity to do a job. There were people half Judge Block’s age, he said, who might not be up to the task of overseeing a criminal trial.
”Age is truly just a number,” Dr. Farrell said.
Typically, the issue of removing a judge with declining faculties is handled informally and behind closed doors, Mr. Shen said. The chief judge of the district may invite the judge to discuss concerns raised about their health, and then encourage the judge in question to retire.
Yet when that fails, the process can get ugly. Judge Newman, the circuit court judge who was suspended by her colleagues after they said she exhibited traits of cognitive decline, has sued over her suspension, arguing she is still fit to do her job.
No such showdown appears in the offing for Judge Block. As his career winds down, he sees his mission as improving civic education outside the confines of the courthouse, including by educating young Americans about the intricacies of the judicial system.
He acknowledged his advanced age, but brushed aside concerns about his fitness. If he was asked to leave the bench, Judge Block said, he would gladly comply.
But he doesn’t think another judge could take his place just yet. “There’s a part of me that thinks I should just hang it up right now,” Judge Block said. “But nobody wants me to do that.”
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
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