“I will take senior status if a confirmed successor lives in this area and is permanently assigned to the United States Courthouse in Utica, New York.
Otherwise, I shall remain on full-time active status until I retire or die.”[3] On August 8, 2022, Kirsten Gillibrand's chief of staff Jess Fassler said “It has always been the expectation that Judge Hurd’s successor would sit in the Utica courthouse, and Jorge Rodriguez has committed to doing so”.
[4][5] On August 10, 2022, Hurd wrote a letter to Biden to officially rescind his senior status and remain in active service.
The news of his decision coincided with an announcement from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts that "there is no plan to close the courthouse" in Utica.
[12] On February 20, 2003, Hurd ruled that New York authorities cannot punish a state trial judge for political activity.
Albany judge Thomas J. Spargo had handed out doughnuts and gasoline coupons during his campaign, bought drinks for voters, spoke at political fundraising rallies, and loudly protested against the 2000 election recount process in Florida.
[14] In August 2020, Hurd ruled that a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers entering New York from states that have high rates of COVID-19 is constitutional.
[16][17] In June 2021, Hurd was removed from a criminal case by a 3-judge panel in the Second Circuit, who ruled that he improperly forced prosecutors to move for a lighter sentence.