Brinkema presided over RTC v. Lerma et al. (1995), a case that involved the reproduction of materials owned by the Church of Scientology. Brinkema found for the defendants in most of the claims, and awarded minimum damages of $2,500 for copyright infringement, citing the "increasingly vitriolic rhetoric" of Religious Technology Center (RTC)'s legal filings.
In 2006, Brinkema presided over the case of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.[7] When she asked about the videotapes showing the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, the government denied their existence.[8] As she sentenced Moussaoui to life in a supermax prison, she told him: "You came here to be a martyr and to die in a great big bang of glory, but to paraphrase the poet T. S. Eliot, instead, you will die with a whimper. The rest of your life you will spend in prison." Mr. Moussaoui began to respond, but Judge Brinkema continued. "You will never again get a chance to speak," she said, "and that is an appropriate and fair ending."[9]
On April 2, 2009, Brinkema weighed in on the question of whether terrorist detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could be prosecuted in the civilian justice system.[10]
In 2011, she presided over the fraud trial of Lee Farkas, CEO of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker. During his sentencing hearing on June 30, 2011, she said that she did not observe any genuine remorse, and sentenced the 58-year-old Farkas to 30 years in federal prison.[11] She ordered Farkas and six others to pay a total of about $US3.5 billion in restitution.[12]
On January 28, 2017, she was the second to order a stay of an executive order by President Donald Trump, which restricted immigration into the United States and prevented the return of green-card holders and others. Although the order issued was a temporary restraining order, it blocked the removal of any green-card holders being detained at Dulles International Airport for seven days. Brinkema's action also ordered that lawyers have access to those held there because of the president's ban.[13]
^Dwyer, Timothy. "Moussaoui judge no mere bench warmer", The Record, March 20, 2006. Accessed November 26, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Right off the bat, Brinkema, who was born in Teaneck and grew up in North Jersey, made it clear to the defense and prosecution how things were going to proceed.... The family lived in Teaneck, Englewood and Tenafly as she grew up, said her brother, Alexander Milhomme, 59, a Closter resident."
