The 92-year-old federal judge presiding over Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s terrorism trial was spotted falling asleep during a previous high-profile case—and now a prominent legal commentator is calling for him to step aside before the most consequential trial of the decade even begins.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1998, was observed “nodding off” during the six-week fraud trial of tech CEO Charlie Javice last year, according to a New York Times guest essay by lawyer and author Jeffrey Toobin.
The incident was so notable that prosecutors and defense attorneys actually conferred on how to handle the judge’s impromptu naps—but ultimately decided to stay quiet so as not to risk offending him.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Maduro was kidnapped by U.S. military forces from his palace in Venezuela and brought to New York to face charges including narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, and weapons possession.
He appeared before Hellerstein in shackles on Monday, declaring himself “still president of Venezuela” and calling himself “a prisoner of war.”
The case is so complicated that Hellerstein has already pushed the next conference to March 17. Toobin notes that a trial is “almost inconceivable” before 2027—when the judge will be 93—and would then last “many months.”
THE DETAILS: Toobin, who was fired from The New Yorker in 2020 after exposing himself on a Zoom call with colleagues, argued in his essay that the best way for Hellerstein to “honor the system to which he has devoted decades of his life” would be to withdraw voluntarily.
If he doesn’t, Toobin says Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain should encourage him to step aside.
There’s no real procedural mechanism to challenge a judge’s fitness—peers just gently nudge elderly judges toward the exit. That’s a problem when the stakes involve international relations, kidnapped foreign leaders, and narco-terrorism charges.
OF COURSE: Hellerstein has ruled against the Trump administration in several high-profile cases, including rejecting Trump’s attempt to move his fraud case to federal court (Trump was later convicted on 34 felony counts).
He also blocked the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants in the Southern District of New York last May.
WHY IT MATTERS: This isn’t just about one sleepy judge. It’s about whether a trial of this magnitude—involving the forcible extraction of a sitting foreign leader, terrorism charges, and massive geopolitical implications—can be fairly conducted by someone who has already demonstrated difficulty staying awake during proceedings.
“For Judge Hellerstein to hang on to the Maduro case when he will be well into his 10th decade would be a disservice to himself, to the parties in court, and to the cause of justice in America,” Toobin writes.
Federal judges serve for life, which usually sounds great until someone’s literally dozing off while deciding the fate of world leaders. The system depends on judges knowing when to step aside—and on colleagues willing to have awkward conversations when they don’t.