Jawn A. Sandifer, 92; Civil Rights Lawyer, N.Y. Supreme Court Justice
Jawn A. Sandifer, 92, who argued a key discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court and later served as a justice on the New York State Supreme Court, died Friday in Sarasota, Fla. His family did not announce the cause of death.
Sandifer was a young staff lawyer for the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People in 1950 when he and a colleague successfully argued Henderson vs. the United States.
The case was brought after Elmer W. Henderson, an African American, was subjected to discrimination while traveling through states in the then-segregated South. The ruling in the case made it illegal to deny passengers the right to eat in a train’s dining car because of their race.
Born June 6, 1914, in Greensboro, N.C., Sandifer graduated from Howard Law School in Washington, D.C., before serving in the Army’s criminal investigation unit during World War II. After completing his military service, he joined the NAACP’s legal staff.
Sandifer moved to New York City in 1949 and opened a private practice in Harlem. In 1964, he was appointed to the New York City Civil Court, where he remained for 10 years.
He was a term judge on the New York State Supreme Court starting in 1969.
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