Rabinowitz wrote landmark opinions in cases involving privacy, reproductive freedom, search and seizure, self-incrimination, free speech,[3] and marijuana use.

[4] Before attending Syracuse University, Rabinowitz served in the U.S. Army Air Forces near the end of World War II.

Jay Rabinowitz grew up in Brooklyn, New York where his father, Milton, a 1922 graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, worked as a bookkeeper for a wholesale fish distributor during the Great Depression.

Rabinowitz remained on the state Supreme Court until February 28, 1997, having reached the mandated retirement age of 70 for judges in Alaska,[6][7] during which time he served four non-consecutive three-year terms as chief justice.

He wrote landmark opinions in cases involving privacy, reproductive freedom, search and seizure, self-incrimination, free speech,[3] and marijuana use.

[citation needed] Rabinowitz's law clerks included Robert Coates and Andrew Kleinfeld, who became a judge of the Ninth Circuit.

Rabinowitz was a competitive athlete, and pursued both tennis and skiing throughout his life, taking up long-distance running in middle age.