Meier Steinbrink

Meier Steinbrink (February 28, 1880 – December 7, 1967) was a Jewish-American lawyer and judge from New York.

Life Steinbrink was born on February 28, 1880, in New York City, New York, the son of Samuel Steinbrink and Fredericka Stein (originally Wittgenstein). His father ran a small candy store. and the National Title Company, and second vice-president and director of the Brooklyn National Life Insurance Company. He lost the election to Democratic candidate Thomas Carmody. He was a delegate to the 1915 New York State Constitutional Convention. By 1915, he was a member of the law firm Jones, McKinney & Steinbrink. He was a presidential elector in the 1928 presidential election.

From 1928 to 1929, Steinbrink served in the ambulance chasing investigation in the Second Judicial District without compensation. In 1932, he became a Justice of the New York Supreme Court. In 1939, he became a member of the Appellate Term. Early in his judgeship, while treating an airplane collision, he demonstrated the elasticity of the law which permitted applying its rules to novel situations. He later authorized a blood test to be used to demonstrate paternity, which established a precedent that later resulted in specific legislation. In 1933, during the Great Depression, he determined the applicable law came to aid of home owners by permitting them to retain possession during the pendency of foreclosure action. He also declared an ordinance that prohibited peddling on the streets of New York City unconstitutional.

As Justice, Steinbrink played a major role in establishing a Committee for the Protection of Religious Freedom Through the World in 1949. In that year, he also presided over the case of Rev. John Howard Melish, the rector of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church who was ordered to relinquish the rectorship by Bishop James Pernette De Wolfe for his avowed approval of his son and assistant Rev. William Howard Melish's 'radical' activities. Steinbrink ruled for removal, and the Appellate Division upheld the decision. He retired as Justice in 1957. He was chairman of the Anti-Defamation League from 1946 to 1952, and was a vigorous opponent of racial injustice and fought for the rights of all minority groups. He frequently called for a federal civil rights law and spoke out for fair employment practices.

Steinbrink received an honorary LL.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1934. He was active in Jewish communal work in Brooklyn, serving as the first president of the United Jewish Aid Society and as an incorporator and director of the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities. In 1938, when a group of Brooklyn Jews founded an organization to propagandize for the proportional representation of Jews in government, he came out firmly against all segregative political steps. In 1943, he was president of the 38th biennial convention of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. He was also president of Congregation Beth Elohim. He was a sponsor of the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.

Steinbrink died at home on December 7, 1967.