In 1963, he was the author of a controversial opinion that banned the sale in New York State of Tropic of Cancer, a novel by Henry Miller, on the ground that it was pornographic.
Calling it "dirt for dirt's sake," he wrote that the book was "devoid of theme or idea" and that it contained "a constant repetition of patently offensive words used solely to convey debasing portrayals of natural and unnatural sexual experience."
He retired from the Court of Appeals at the end of 1972 when he reached the constitutional age limit of 70 years, and returned to the Supreme Court, at Riverhead, Long Island, as a certificated trial justice until 1976.
Saying that granting the request "would have serious repercussions perhaps throughout the entire country," the judge cited what he called "virtually endless and increasingly inane" possibilities, such as someone named "Jackson" seeking to become "Jackchild" or a woman named "Carmen" wanting to be "Carperson."
He died from a heart attack at the University Hospital in Stony Brook, Long Island, and was buried at the churchyard of St. James Roman Catholic Church in Setauket.