Born in New York City, New York, Metzner received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Columbia University in 1931 and a Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1933.
[2] He was counsel to the General Jewish Council in 1941, and was then a law secretary for Justice William C. Hecht of the Supreme Court of New York from 1942 to 1953.
[3] On April 15, 1959, Metzner was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge John William Clancy.
He assumed senior status on September 30, 1977, and was a member of the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals for the United States from 1979 to 1993.
[3] At the time of his death, he was the last remaining federal judge to have been appointed by President Eisenhower.