Norman A. Mordue

Who is Norman A. Mordue?

Norman A. Mordue, is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Mordue earned the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Distinguished Service Cross while serving as a captain in the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1968. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1966 and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1971. From 1972 to 1982, he worked for the district attorney in Onondaga County, New York, the last six years as chief prosecutor. He was a county court judge from 1982 to 1988, and a State Supreme Court justice in Onondaga County from 1986 to 1998.

Upon the recommendation of Senator Alfonse D'Amato, President Bill Clinton nominated Mordue to replace Rosemary S. Pooler on the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York in July 1998. Mordue was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in October 1998, and took office on December 4. He took senior status on June 30, 2013.

He was Chief Judge of the court from 2006 to 2011.

Mordue has three times ruled in favor of the school district's censorship of religious content in an assignment in Peck v. Baldwinsville School District. He also ruled in favor of a school district censoring a student newspaper's cartoon of stick figures in sexual positions in R.O. v. Ithaca.