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Recent Articles from Scott Forsyth
Forsyth: Can states boycott contractors who boycott Israeli products?
The founding of Israel was and remains contentious. The Arab states responded, in part, by instituting an economic boycott of all things Israeli. The boycott extended to non-Israeli firms that did business with the government of Israel or Israeli firms. In the late 1970s Congress became concerned that American firms were being pressured to comply […]
Indefinite detention of American enemy combatant at issue again
The phrase “enemy combatant” conjures up an image of a person, usually a foreign national, infiltrating the country during a time of war, to spy or wreak havoc, or, more recently, fighting for a stateless group like al-Qaida or the Taliban. The government captures the person and detains him, usually in a military prison, inside […]
Local judge orders ICE to follow parole procedures for asylum-seekers detained at Batavia
The next time you zoom past the Batavia exit on the Thruway, on your way to Buffalo, look left. There is the Palm Island Indoor Water Park. The average stay is 1.5 hours, full of fun and frolic. Then look right. There sits the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility, supervised by ICE. It houses approximately 360 […]
Immigrant minor obtains abortion over the resistance of DHHS
A decision based on a “radical” “new right for unlawful immigrant minors” “to obtain immediate abortion on demand” or one that honored the exercise of “an unquestioned constitutional right to choose a pre-viability abortion.” Such were the diametrically opposed viewpoints of the dissent and the majority in Garza v. Hargan, No. 17-5236 (D.C. Cir. Oct […]
Courts keep finding religious purpose behind travel bans
In a famous line from Jodi Picoult’s Salem Falls, a prep school student reflects, “Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.” The student had reason to regret the mess her words caused. Her sexual fantasies written in a […]
Illinois just updated its abortion laws; NY needs to do the same
If you were poor, without private insurance, and wanting an abortion, you could not obtain an abortion unless you resided in one of 17 states which appropriated state Medicaid dollars for this purpose. Women with means were not so limited in their choice of states. Poor women can thank Rep. Henry Hyde of Chicago for […]
First Amendment protects immigrant day laborers in Oyster Bay
Two weekends ago my partner and I wanted an ice cream cone, so we visited Pittsford Farms Dairy. On the sidewalk at the entrance to the dairy and across the street were a bunch of Mercy students, waving signs and chatting up a car wash. A common occurrence and problem-free, right? Not so in the […]
Texas mandates on the enforcement of immigration laws unconstitutional
Local officials like to complain about state “mandates”: services, such as Medicaid and indigent legal defense, which the state requires local governments to furnish with little or no financial assistance. The officials conveniently forget their governments exist by virtue of an act of the legislature. If the legislature continues the existence on condition the governments […]
ACLU correct to defend alt-right’s right to protest in Charlottesville
The death of Heather Meyer by car in Charlottesville two weeks ago was a horrible tragedy. We know the driver of the car participated in an alt-right march the night before and the Unite the Right rally in Emancipation Park the day of her death. The organizers of the rally had to obtain a court […]
Recent victories for women in the abortion fight
Three weeks ago I was hiking in North Cascades National Park, near Mt. Baker, which is stunning country. The park is located partly in Skagit County. You see the area’s name throughout the valleys and flat lands, all of the way to the ocean. Two days after I returned, I learned that the ACLU […]
Public nuisance laws remain unconstitutional
Four years ago I wrote a column titled “Public nuisance laws are an unconstitutional nuisance.” It described the plight of Lakisha Briggs, a poor, single mother living in an apartment in Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her boyfriend physically abused her at least eight times. Briggs complained to the police, with limited success. What did […]
Scott Forsyth: Displaying the text of the Ten Commandments on public property endorses religion
We live in a divided society. One of the fault lines is religion. Always has been and maybe always will be. For every step across the line, there seems to be one, and sometimes two, steps back. Take, for example, the actions of Jason Rapert. He is a senator in the Arkansas legislature. He is […]
Case Digests
- Fourth Department – Breach of contract: Hausrath Landscape Maintenance Inc. v. Caravan Facilities Management LLC
- Second Circuit – New York Child Victim’s Act: Kane v. Mount Pleasant CSD; Coe v. Eastport Union Free School
- NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics – Appointing law clerk: Opinion 22-149
- Fourth Department – Bill of particulars: Harris v. Rome Memorial Hospital, et al.
- NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics – Accusations against co-judge: Opinion 22-148
- Fourth Department – Medicaid: Washington Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Home v. NYS Dept. of Health
- Fourth Department – Criminal possession of a firearm: People v. Wilson
- Fourth Department – Promoting prostitution: People v. Watts
- Second Circuit – Class certification: Arkansas Teachers Retirement System V. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
- Fourth Department – Show-up identification: People v. Waggoner
- Fourth Department – Association: Victory Village Tenants Assoc. v. Evergreen Communities, et al.
- Second Circuit – In personam jurisdiction: Kaplan v. Bank Saderat PLC
Law News
- Greenlight Networks selects Buffalo-based attorney as general counsel
- Barclay Damon hires attorney Matt Smith
- Rochester man sues Geneseo police, alleging false arrest, assault
- The Daily Record’s Power List for Intellectual Property 2023
- NY ethics panel says judges can join NRA
- Harter Secrest & Emery LLP names partner-in-charge of Buffalo office
- Banned professor sues SUNY Fredonia leaders
- Hochul signs law requiring unemployment insurance information from employers
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