
Juan Merchan (1962-) was an acting justice on the New York Supreme Court from 2009.
Biography[]
Juan Merchan was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1962, and he emigrated to New York City at the age of six and was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens. He became the first member of his family to attend college, and he became a judge in 2006 and a New York Supreme Court justice in 2009. Merchan presided over the conviction of Trump Organization financial chief Allen Weisselberg, the criminal trial of Steve Bannon for fraud and money laundering, and the 2023 Manhattan grand jury indictment of Donald Trump himself. Trump attacked Merchan and his family, pointing out that his daughter had worked for Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. On 6 April 2023, it was revealed that Merchan himself had made a small donation of $35 to the Democratic Party in 2020 (including $15 to Joe Biden's presidential campaign), resulting in conservative attacks on his impartiality.