“Judge Nanette Dembitz for Court of Appeals” Campaign Poster

New York City, 1972. 15 ½ x 22 ½ inches. Masking tape at top and bottom; some folding to upper left edge, some marginal chipping; fine contrast. Overall excellent.. Nanette Dembitz (1913–1989) graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan, then attended Columbia Law School where she edited the Columbia Law Review, graduating in 1938. She was unable to find work in private practice because of her gender; as her April 1989 obituary in The New York Times reports, she was told in an interview “that she might find a spot as a secretary, if she could type”. Dembitz instead went into public law and in 1967 was appointed to the Family Court by Mayor John Lindsay. This campaign poster is from Judge Dembitz’s 1972 run for New York State Court of Appeals. Dembitz successfully challenged Democratic appointees in the primary, but Republicans swept the general election.