After earning degrees from Howard University and St. John's School of Law he entered politics, first serving as general counsel to the New York State Assembly Subcommittee on Probation and Parole.
Although Norman was victorious in[4] that race, he was re-elected by only 580 votes, a relatively slim margin of 55% to 45%, which signaled the first chinks in his previously impregnable political armor.
Heading the largest county Democratic organization in the country, Norman became an influential power broker, on municipal, statewide, and national levels.
[5] A Brooklyn judge, Gerald P. Garson, was accused of bribery by taking money from an attorney to rig the outcome of divorce and child custody cases that he was hearing.
[5] While Garson's bribery case was under way, a report appeared in the New York Post that a former Brooklyn judge allegedly was asked to pay more than $100,000 to stay on the bench - and then lost her seat after she refused.
The Post went on to say, "the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office was interested in speaking with Archer as part of an ongoing grand jury probe into the reported sales of judgeships in Kings County.
Norman said that Hynes's inquiry was a result of a failed investigation into other areas and that he had no plans to resign from his county Democratic post or his Assembly seat.
[10] On trial for a second set of charges several months later, Norman was convicted again, this time on larceny for putting a $5,000 check made out to his assembly campaign into a personal account.
On March 24, 2006, Norman was acquitted of stealing over $5,000 by claiming reimbursement for travel expenses between the state capital (Albany) and Brooklyn, which involved a motor vehicle that the Kings County Democratic Party had paid for.
[15] As a result of his convictions, Norman was forced to resign as chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party, was expelled from the New York State Assembly, and was disbarred.