Roger Miner

Who was Roger Miner?

Roger Jeffrey Miner was a federal appellate judge serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Miner was born in Hudson, New York. After graduating from New York Law School, Miner served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1956 to 1959 before returning to private practice in New York. He was corporation counsel for the City of Hudson from 1961 to 1964 and District Attorney of Columbia County, New York from 1968 to 1975.

Miner's judicial career began with his election in 1976 to the New York State Supreme Court, a trial court on which he served from 1976-81. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated Miner to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. In 1985, President Reagan promoted Miner to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In January 1987 Miner and Jon O. Newman heard Salinger v. Random House, deciding that with unpublished works the right of the copyright owner to control publication took precedence over the right of "fair use". This was interpreted as setting the right of an individual to privacy ahead of the public right to know.