Tali Farhadian Weinstein

Tali Farhadian Weinstein
Personal details
Born
Tali Farimah Farhadian

1975 or 1976 (age 47–48)
Tehran, Iran
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2010; sep. 2024)​
[1]
Children3
EducationYale University (BA, JD)
Magdalen College, Oxford (MPhil)
OccupationAttorney, professor
Websitewww.taliforda.com

Tali Farimah Farhadian Weinstein (born in 1975 or 1976)[2] is an American attorney, professor, and politician. She is a former federal and state prosecutor and was a candidate in the 2021 Manhattan District Attorney race. In November 2024, President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate her as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Born in Iran to a Jewish family, Farhadian Weinstein came to the United States as a refugee in 1979. Her family became eligible for citizenship through President Ronald Reagan's 1986 amnesty program. After graduating from Yale University and Magdalen College, Oxford, she earned her Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. She then became a law clerk for Judge Merrick Garland at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, during O'Connor's last two years at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Farhadian Weinstein worked at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2009 to 2017, first as counsel to Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General during the Barack Obama administration, and then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She later served as general counsel to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez from 2018 to 2020. In 2021, Farhadian Weinstein was a candidate in the Democratic primary for New York County District Attorney. Since 2017, she has also taught at the New York University School of Law where she continues to serve as an adjunct professor. In late 2021, she became a legal analyst for NBC News.

Early life and education

A Persian Jew, Farhadian was born in Tehran, Iran, to Farah Farhadian, then a biostatistician and now a math teacher, and Nasser Dan Farhadian, a hydraulic engineer.[2][3][4] Her paternal grandfather was a cloth peddler.[3] She has a younger brother, Leeor.[5]

After fleeing antisemitism and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and spending 10 months in Israel (where her parents attended university), Farhadian arrived in the United States with her family at four years old on Christmas Eve in 1979.[2][6][7][8] The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society helped the family apply for asylum[4] and they became eligible for US citizenship through President Ronald Reagan's 1986 amnesty policies.[4][7]

The family lived first in Queens, New York, and then in North Jersey.[7][9] She attended day school at the Moriah School and the Frisch School.[7][10] She studied in Israel in 1992 pursuant to a Bronfman Youth Fellowship.[10]

In 1997, Farhadian graduated from Yale University where she majored in humanities.[11] She edited the Yale Women's Haggadah, a feminist interpretation of the Jewish Passover text.[11] She wrote her senior essay on the Spanish Jewish poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi.[11] She received Yale's Alpheus Henry Snow Prize.[9]

As a Rhodes Scholar, she attended Magdalen College, Oxford in England where she earned a MPhil in Oriental Studies (Modern Middle East Studies) in 1999, writing her thesis on the literature of Jews from the Arab world in Israel.[7][9][12]

She then earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2003, where Farhadian received the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.[12] She passed the New York State Bar Exam in July 2003.[13]

Career

From 2003 to 2004, Farhadian Weinstein was a law clerk for Judge Merrick Garland of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.[14][15] From 2004 to 2006, she clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.[2][16] From 2006 to 2007, she was a litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City.[9] From 2007 to 2008, she was an adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School.[6]

In 2009, Farhadian Weinstein joined the U.S. Department of Justice.[14] Through June 2010, she served with the Department as Counsel to the Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder,[17][12] helping create guidelines on prosecutorial discretion on indictments and sentencing recommendations.[18] Farhadian Weinstein joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2011 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where she investigated and prosecuted federal crimes including violent crimes, public corruption, narcotics trafficking, and national security matters, serving through 2017.[12][14]

From 2018 to 2020, she was the general counsel for Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.[19] During this period, she created a post-conviction justice bureau to reevaluate possible wrongful convictions in collaboration with the Innocence Project.[5] Besides the post-conviction justice bureau, she oversaw the Brooklyn District Attorney office's appeals bureau, civil litigation bureau, and law enforcement accountability bureau.[20] She has also been an adjunct professor at NYU Law School since 2017.[20]

Farhadian Weinstein stepped down from her position at the Brooklyn District Attorney's office in July 2020[21] to become a candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2021 New York County District Attorney race to replace Cyrus Vance Jr. and oversee more than 500 lawyers in Manhattan.[22][23][24][25] She and fellow candidate Alvin Bragg were the top fundraisers in the race,[26][27] which included $8.2 million of her own money.[28][29] Farhadian Weinstein was the only candidate who had worked in a New York City district attorney's office and been a federal prosecutor.[8] An April 21, 2021, poll by Benenson Strategy Group found her leading with 16% of those polled.[30] She was endorsed by the New York Post and the New York Daily News.[31][32] She was also endorsed by former attorney general Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Gloria Steinem, as well as Representatives Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velázquez, and Ritchie Torres.[33] She was also endorsed by New York City branch of the National Organization for Women and Robbie Kaplan who co-founded the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund.[34]

Farhadian Weinstein had the most votes in several neighborhoods including Upper East Side, Inwood and Washington Heights.[35][36] She earned 30.7% of the total vote, second to Bragg's 34.3%, in a primary with eight candidates.[37] On July 2, 2021, Farhadian Weinstein conceded the primary to Bragg.[38] In late 2021, she became a legal analyst for NBC News.[39]

Farhadian Weinstein was appointed to the board of trustees of the New York Public Library in May 2018[12] and serves on the board of directors of International Refugee Assistance Project.[40] She previously served on the Reform Leadership Council of the Vera Institute of Justice.[41]

Nomination to district court

On November 8, 2024, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Farhadian Weinstein to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.[42]

Political positions

During her 2021 campaign, she proposed creating a new Bureau of Gender-Based Violence, composed of a Sex Crimes Unit and a Domestic Violence Unit, in the district attorney's office.[3][17][43] She supports abolishing cash bail entirely and giving judges discretion to jail defendants who they believe pose a danger.[44]

Farhadian Weinstein does not support defunding the police, calling the phrase "inflammatory".[7] At a forum with the eight candidates for the Manhattan DA's office, she was one of only two who said they would not "defund the police," something that the DA's office has no authority over.[45] She has indicated support for police reform.[7] She was in favor of the repeal of a rule that kept personnel files for police officers confidential. This rule was repealed in 2020 by the New York State Legislature.[43]

Farhadian Weinstein supports letting citizens of foreign countries living in the United States vote in local city elections.[46]

Personal life

In November 2010, Farhadian married wealthy hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein, whom she had met while attending a book party at the UJA-Federation of New York, at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan.[2][7] In 2012, they purchased a $25.5 million property on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, from the estate of Huguette Clark.[2][47] In May 2020, they gave $2 million to non-profits helping domestic violence victims.[48] The couple have three daughters.[48] In April 2024, Boaz Weinstein filed for divorce.[49]

In 2021, ProPublica reported that Farhadian Weinstein and her husband had paid virtually no federal income taxes in four of six recent years. This was despite reported annual income as high as $107 million.[50]

Electoral history

Democratic primary for the 2021 New York County district attorney election[51]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Alvin Bragg 85,720 34.2%
Democratic Tali Farhadian Weinstein 76,892 30.7%
Democratic Tahanie Aboushi 27,458 11.0%
Democratic Lucy Lang 18,910 7.5%
Democratic Diana Florence 12,246 4.9%
Democratic Liz Crotty 11,453 4.6%
Democratic Eliza Orlins 10,610 4.2%
Democratic Dan Quart 6,984 2.8%
Write-in 330 0.13%
Total valid votes 250,603 93.7%
Rejected ballots 16,908 6.3%
Total votes 267,511 100.0%

See also

References

  1. ^ "Case 365136/2024 Boaz Weinstein V. Tali Farhadian Weinstein - Trellis: Legal Intelligence + Judicial Analytics". Trellis.Law. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Tali Farhadian and Boaz Weinstein". The New York Times. November 5, 2010. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Wolfson, Lily (December 6, 2020). "In Conversation with Manhattan DA Candidate Tali Farhadian Weinstein". The Iris. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Weinstein, Tali Farhadian (December 23, 2019). "Opinion: An Immigrant's Christmas Eve; We could have been turned away at the border. But a law enforcement officer granted my family a few days of freedom". The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Manhattan District Attorney Candidate Tali Farhadian Weinstein Would Be the First Woman and Immigrant to Hold the Position". Vogue. June 18, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "IAPAC Announces Endorsement of Tali Farhadian Weinstein for Manhattan District Attorney". PAAIA. May 5, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Kassel, Matthew (July 17, 2020). "She fled Tehran at age 4. Now 44, Tali Farhadian Weinstein is running for Manhattan DA". Jewish Insider. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Siyance, Ilana (May 26, 2021). "Tali Weinstein, Vying for Manhattan DA Job Shares Personal Story". The Jewish Voice. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d "Tali Farhadian Weinstein, 2002". Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Students selected as Kukin fellows". New Jersey Jewish News. September 23, 1993. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  11. ^ a b c "Tali Farimah Farhadian; The Alpheus Henry Snow Prize". Yale Bulletin & Calendar – Commencement 1997. 25 (33). June 22, 1997.
  12. ^ a b c d e "The New York Public Library Elects Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor, Andres Santo Domingo, and Tali Farhadian Weinstein to its Board of Trustees". The New York Public Library. May 9, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  13. ^ "Candidates Who Passed the July 2003 NYS Bar Exam". New York Lawyer. November 14, 2003. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  14. ^ a b c "Tali F. Weinstein, Esq.; General Counsel, Brooklyn District Attorney's Office," New York State Bar Association.
  15. ^ Lyall, Sarah (February 19, 2017). "Liberals Are Still Angry, but Merrick Garland Has Reached Acceptance". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  16. ^ Thomas, Evan (March 19, 2019). First: Sandra Day O'Connor. Random House Publishing Group. p. 370. ISBN 978-0-399-58929-4. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  17. ^ a b "A look at Manhattan D.A. candidates on the ballot in June's primary election". The New York Daily News. April 21, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  18. ^ Paul, Deanna (May 19, 2021). "Tali Farhadian Weinstein's Immigrant Story Shapes Campaign for Manhattan District Attorney". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  19. ^ Robbins, Tom (April 17, 2019). "Brooklyn District Attorney Vows: I Won't Fight Parole in Most Cases". The City. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Tali Farhadian Weinstein". Yale Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program.
  21. ^ Durkin, Erin (July 13, 2020). "A new contender enters crowded race for Manhattan DA". Politico. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  22. ^ Szep, Jason; So, Linda (April 28, 2021). "Race, crime, Trump loom over vote for Manhattan's top prosecutor". Reuters. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  23. ^ "A look at Manhattan D.A. candidates on the ballot in June's primary election". New York Daily News. April 21, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021 – via MSN.
  24. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E. (March 25, 2021). "8 Candidates Compete for a Job That May Involve Prosecuting Trump". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  25. ^ Lat, David (June 5, 2012). "Lawyerly Lairs: A Federal Prosecutor's $25 Million Apartment". Above the Law. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  26. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E.; Weiser, Benjamin; Haberman, Maggie (June 2, 2021). "2 Leading Manhattan D.A. Candidates Face the Trump Question". The New York Times. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  27. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E. (April 13, 2021). "Wall Street Is Donating to This D.A. Candidate. Is That a Problem?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  28. ^ Walters, Jonah (June 20, 2021). "Meet Tali Farhadian Weinstein, the Millionaire Trying to Buy the Manhattan DA's Office". jacobin.com. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  29. ^ Walsh, James D. (June 15, 2021). "Wall Street's Favorite DA Candidate Donated $8.2 Million to Her Own Campaign". Intelligencer. New York. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  30. ^ "StudentsFirstNY; April 16–April 21, 2021; New York City Democratic Primary Poll," Politico.
  31. ^ Post Editorial Board (June 10, 2021). "The Post endorses Tali Farhadian Weinstein for Manhattan DA". New York Post. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  32. ^ Daily News Editorial Board (May 26, 2021). "Ms. District Attorney: Tali Farhadian Weinstein for Manhattan DA". New York Daily News. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  33. ^ Gartland, Michael (June 15, 2020). "Hillary Clinton endorses Tali Farhadian Weinstein for Manhattan DA". New York Daily News. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  34. ^ Paul, Deanna (May 19, 2021). "Tali Farhadian Weinstein's Immigrant Story Shapes Campaign for Manhattan District Attorney". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  35. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E. (June 23, 2021). "Alvin Bragg has a slight lead in the Manhattan district attorney's race, which is still undecided". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  36. ^ Bromwich, Jonah E. (June 23, 2021). "Bragg Holds Lead in Manhattan District Attorney Primary". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  37. ^ "Manhattan District Attorney Primary Election Results". The New York Times. June 22, 2021. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  38. ^ Walsh, James D. (July 2, 2021). "Alvin Bragg Set to Become Manhattan's First Black District Attorney". Intelligencer. New York. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  39. ^ Guthrie, Savannah (September 13, 2021). "Hiding is not an effective legal strategy for Prince Andrew, analyst says". Today. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  40. ^ "IRAP: 2021 Report to Supporters" (PDF). International Refugee Assistance Project. 2021. p. 19. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  41. ^ "Annual Report 2020: Reckoning with Justice" (PDF). Vera Institute of Justice. 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  42. ^ "President Biden Names Fifty-Sixth Round of Judicial Nominees" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. November 8, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  43. ^ a b Hanau, Shira (July 29, 2020). "Iranian-Jewish 'progressive prosecutor' in the running to be Manhattan's DA". The Times of Israel. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  44. ^ Durkin, Erin (July 13, 2020). "A new contender enters crowded race for Manhattan DA". Politico. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  45. ^ Hogan, Gwynne (February 1, 2021). "Manhattan District Attorney Candidates Are Running On Big Promises Of Reform". Gothamist. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  46. ^ "Opinion | Voting on Election Day shouldn't be limited to citizens". NBC News. November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  47. ^ Finn, Robin (July 20, 2012). "Big Ticket: Sold for $25.5 Million". City Room. The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  48. ^ a b Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Avital (July 17, 2020). "Prosecutor, mother, refugee: Tali Farhadian Weinstein wants to be Manhattan's DA". The Forward. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  49. ^ Franey, James (September 12, 2024). "NY hedge fund titan Boaz Weinstein set to divorce ex-Manhattan DA candidate Tali Farhadian". Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  50. ^ Ernsthausen, Jeff; Faturechi, Robert (June 16, 2021). "Leading Manhattan DA Candidate Has Repeatedly Paid Virtually No Federal Income Taxes". ProPublica. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  51. ^ "New York Democratic District Attorney New York Recap" (PDF).