Wikipedia's first sentence called it “lawyer and politician from new york”. Today it says “american former jurist”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2025
Solomon "Sol" Wachtler (born April 29, 1930) is an American former jurist, Republican politician, attorney, and author from the state of New York. Wachtler's most famous quote, made shortly after his appointment as Chief Judge, is that district attorneys could get grand juries to "indict a ham sandwich". A graduate of Washington and Lee University , Wachtler served as a councilman and then a town supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead, New York . In 1968, he was appointed as a state trial court judge. Four years later, Wachtler was elected to the New York Court of Appeals , where he served for nearly 20 years and authored nearly 400 opinions. Mario Cuomo appointed him to the position of chief judge of the Court of Appeals in 1985. In 1992, Wachtler was charged with various crimes stemming from threats he made against a former lover, Joy Silverman , and her daughter. After resigning his judgeship, Wachtler pleaded guilty to the charges and served thirteen months in prison and a halfway house. Following his release, Wachtler became an author and critic, as well as an advocate for the mentally ill.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1297155759.
The opening as it stood in 2010
( 1930-04-29 ) April 29, 1930 (age 96) ) is a lawyer and politician from New York . He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1993, but achieved notoriety for intimidating a former lover and threatening to kidnap her daughter, for which he served an 11 month prison term.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363810151.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Solomon Wachtler (born ( 1930-04-29 ) April 29, 1930) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from New York .Known for the remark, "A marriage license should not be viewed as a license for a husband to forcibly rape his wife with impunity" (in People v.Liberta), Wachtler was a key figure in making spousal rape a criminal offense.He achieved national notoriety when he was charged with, and then convicted of, acts stemming from threats he made against a former lover and her daughter.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668886308.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American judge Solomon "Sol" Wachtler (born ( 1930-04-29 ) April 29, 1930) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from New York . 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." 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.Upon conviction, Wachtler served thirteen months in prison and a half-way house.After his release, Wachtler became an author and critic, as well as an advocate for the mentally ill.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965288809.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American judge Solomon "Sol" Wachtler (born April 29, 1930) is an American lawyer and Republican politician. 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". 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. Upon conviction, Wachtler served thirteen months in prison and a half-way house. After his release, Wachtler became an author and critic, as well as an advocate for the mentally ill.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176437935.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “lawyer and politician from new york”. Today it says “american former jurist”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
lawyer and politician from new york
Now
american former jurist
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
