[2] Wachtler's most famous quote, made shortly after his appointment as Chief Judge, was that district attorneys could get grand juries to "indict a ham sandwich".
[3] He achieved national notoriety when he was charged with, and then convicted of, acts stemming from threats he made against a former lover, Joy Silverman, and her daughter.
[5] He served in the United States Army before moving to Great Neck on Long Island, near his wife's family, where he worked as an attorney.
[5] In 1968—after a failed bid for Nassau County executive—Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed him to the New York Supreme Court.
In January 1985, Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo appointed him Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.
[5] The same month as his appointment, Wachtler was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying that "district attorneys now have so much influence on grand juries that 'by and large' they could get them to 'indict a ham sandwich.
[9][10] Wachtler's 1975 decision in Chapadeau v. Utica Observer[11] protected the right of the defendant newspaper (and by extension of the press in general) to cover issues of public concern without undue exposure to suits for libel.
The majority opinion set a stricter standard of "clear and convincing" than the lower courts, and refused to let a patient's family withdraw life support.
[20] According to then-United States Attorney Michael Chertoff, over time, Wachtler received fees of more than US$800,000 for his work as executor and trustee of the entire estate.
[24] Prosecutors alleged that he demanded a $20,000 blackmail payment in exchange for turning over compromising photographs and tapes of Silverman with her then boyfriend, attorney David Samson.
He also contributed to the book Serving Mentally Ill Defendants (ISBN 0-8261-1504-7) and has written as a critic-at-large for The New Yorker Magazine.
The Season 4 episode "Censure" of the television series Law & Order is based on Wachtler's affair and conviction.