The Frum Judge Who Will Preside Over Maduro's Trial

Ninety-two-year-old Alvin K. Hellerstein, one of the most senior active judges in the American federal judiciary and an openly Orthodox Jew, has been assigned to preside over the Manhattan criminal case against Nicolás Maduro, now in U.S. custody following his dramatic arrest.

The case will be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, widely regarded as the most powerful federal court in the country. The assignment places a prosecution with enormous geopolitical and symbolic weight in the hands of a judge known for meticulous procedure, judicial independence, and a long career handling politically sensitive cases.

Hellerstein, appointed to the bench in 1998 and taking senior status in 2011, has remained active well into his nineties, continuing to oversee major criminal, terrorism-related, and national security cases. Over the years, he has presided over complex financial prosecutions and large-scale civil litigation, including lawsuits tied to the September 11 attacks. He is known for detailed rulings, firm courtroom control, and frequent, pointed questioning from the bench.

Maduro faces sweeping federal charges, including narcotics trafficking, corruption, and offenses linked to terrorism, according to U.S. prosecutors. The case has drawn particular attention in Israel and Jewish communities worldwide, given Maduro’s long alliance with Iran and his repeated attacks on Israel and “Zionism” during his years in power.

Hellerstein’s Orthodox Jewish identity is well known in legal and Jewish circles, though it is rarely emphasized in court proceedings. He is a Sabbath-observant judge who has previously served in leadership roles in New York’s Orthodox community and is known to balance religious observance with a strict adherence to federal law. Colleagues and attorneys who have appeared before him often describe him as exacting but scrupulously fair.

Despite assumptions sometimes made about his background, Hellerstein has repeatedly demonstrated that religious identity plays no role in his legal decisions. In recent years, he has ruled both against and in favor of positions taken by the Trump administration, including blocking certain deportations on constitutional grounds while rejecting arguments that defendants should receive leniency based on religion or nationality.

Maduro is currently being held in a federal detention facility in New York as he awaits initial proceedings. The case is expected to move forward in the coming weeks, with pretrial hearings likely to draw intense international scrutiny.

With Hellerstein overseeing the process, the prosecution is expected to proceed deliberately and by the book, under a judge whose long career has been defined less by spectacle than by a rigid insistence on procedure, evidence, and the limits of executive power.