Blogs

By Victoria Vitale Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News: Entertainment Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter, The deadly shooting that occurred during filming the movie “Rust” has resulted in Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies charging actor/producer Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, with involuntary manslaughter. Several in the entertainment industry balked at placing such responsibility at least on Baldwin. Assistant director David Halls ...

By Giancarla Sambo Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News: Entertainment Violent Gang, or Rap Label? Prosecutors Say Young Thug’s YSL Is Both With a blockbuster case set to begin, the superstar rapper sits at the intersection of complex questions about art, crime, and the criminal justice system. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/arts/music/young-thug-ysl-trial.html ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Stars Claim Nude Scene Was Child Abuse. Do They Have a Case? The actors, now 72 and 71, accuse the ...

By Darby Daly Edited by Elissa D. Hecker Below, for your browsing convenience, the categories are divided into: Entertainment, Arts, Sports, Technology/Media, and General News: Entertainment Teen Stars of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Sue Over Nudity in 1968 Film Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting assert in a lawsuit that Paramount Pictures should have known that nude images of them in their teens were “secretly and unlawfully obtained.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/movies/romeo-and-juliet-nudity-lawsuit.html?searchResultPosition=1 Jennifer Shah, ‘Real Housewives’ Star, Sentenced in Fraud Scheme Jennifer Shah, who appears on ...

I am starting this Blog with a summary of the recent meeting of more than 90 heads of state and 35,000 delegates from 190 countries in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, at the 27 th Convention of the Parties (COP27) to address climate change . For the first time, the parties were able to agree on language establishing “the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” which had been dropped from an earlier version and which references a UN resolution approved in July. The agreement also establishes a fund for “loss and damage” to assist poor countries in recovering from extreme weather events caused largely by the greenhouse gas emissions from wealthy nations. ...

In 2015, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v Hodges , 576 U.S. 644 (2015) [i] which held that the states must issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. It was a 5-4 decision, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan were the majority and the Dissent came from Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas. The decision was based on the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process clause and Equal Protection Clause. Since that time, Justice Thomas in particular has expressed his opinion that the decision was wrong and he thinks the Court should revisit the issue. [ii] He also wants to revisit rights to contraception. In his concurring opinion ...

Facts on the Ground: Floods, extreme heat and wildfires continue world-wide . In the US, on Aug 21, more than 100,000 people in the US were under flash flood watches. National parks in southern Utah remained under elevated risk of flash flooding and at least one hiker was missing in Zion NP after being swept off her feet. Over 200 people had to be evacuated from Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico after being stranded by floods. Flash floods occur anywhere intense rain falls over a brief time. They occur with increasing frequency as the climate warms. Monsoonal moisture is contributing to more frequent showers and thunderstorms. A monsoon is a seasonal change ...

This blog offers a space for Committee members to express their feelings or comment on areas of the law they find important. Our nation is particularly divided now, and what I see as the erosion of individual civil rights is very important to me. So, all my posts, this one included, are my opinion only and not that of the Committee or its other members. In June, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson , [i] where they overturned Roe v. Wade . [ii] Roe, of course, is the case from 1973 that held that the Constitution guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion. I wrote about it briefly in a prior blog post. [iii] I won’t go into ...

Facts on the Ground: When I started this Blog, 47 editions ago, I did not expect the Facts on the Ground section to grow the way it has. But it is now clear that climate change will continue to produce lethal and costly extreme weather events around the planet all year long. No one and no place is safe or immune. Extremes of heat, drought, fire, as well as precipitation, flooding, landslides, tornados/typhoons, storm surges and sea level rise will be a constant feature of this Blog. As I write on July 11, about 50 million people in the Central US (primarily Texas) are under heat warnings or advisories as the heat index is forecast above 100F for at least ...

Civil Rights and Ordered Liberty—Ideas for the NYSBA Committee on Civil Rights I had the honor of attending the inauguration of Sherry Levin Wallach as the 125 th president of the N.Y.S. Bar Association on June 1 st . President Wallach will be focusing her one-year term on several initiatives. She has stated that one of her goals is to: “maximize participation by our diverse and capable members so that the Association can achieve new levels of excellence ….” Like her predecessor, Past President T. Andrew Brown, Ms. Wallach has been a leader on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also indicates that she wants to encourage “increased membership ...

Climate Change Blog 47 Facts on the Ground: In early March, Australia’s eastern coast endured record rainfall, some of the worst flooding in Australian history, which inundated parts of two of its largest cities, Lismore, in the state of New South Wales, and Sydney, killing 20 people. Residents had little time to evacuate so many became trapped in their attics and cut through their roofs where they became stranded as floodwaters quickly rose. The flooding prompted the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to declare a national emergency for the first time in the nation’s history. The prime minister authorized the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars in ...

By Michael Diederich, Jr. [1] As a civil rights practitioner who personally believes that vaccination is a vital tool for protecting society against viruses such as COVID-19, I ask myself: What “civil liberties” are we talking about regarding Covid mandates? Covid, especially in its original COVID-19 and Delta variant versions, is a deadly disease. Fighting the Covid virus has become, it seems, a culture wars fight—a highly charged game of political football, with the Red team using individual “liberty” and the Blue team using “public safety” to score points against each other. [2] Yet the average citizen does not view Covid as a game. The average citizen ...

Climate Change Blog 46 Facts on the Ground: Extreme weather is now a fact of life on a scale humanity has never experienced with such ferocity and frequency. The new year continued where 2021 left off. There were three tornado reports in northern Georgia on New Year's Eve, near Worthville, Magnet and Villa Rica and a tornado struck Newton County, Ga too. Half-dollar-sized hail fell in Kentucky while heavy winds in Alabama blew the roofs off chicken coops and brought down trees and power lines. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued a state of emergency due to the damage done by two prior long-track tornadoes. A tornado hit west of Elkton, TN, and others ...

I’ve written a bunch of posts on the erosion of Voting Rights, starting with the Shelby County case from 2012 which began the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [i] The fruits of those attacks are coming home to roost. Chief Justice John Roberts led the Supreme Court in its Shelby decision. He held that the standards of 1965 were no longer applicable and said that the formula was outdated and to apply those standards to today was inappropriate. He said: In 1965, the States could be divided into two groups: those with a recent history of voting tests and low voter registration and turnout, and those without those characteristics. Congress ...

I posted a piece on the Employment Law Section's blog-- https://communities.nysba.org/blogs/michael-diederich/2022/02/09/will-scotus-uphold-a-caste-system-of-nys-justice-c -- the first portion of which is as follows for anyone on the Committee on Civil Rights who may be interested: Will SCOTUS Uphold A Caste System of NYS Justice Center Injustice By Denying (Black) Accuseds The Right To Face Their (White Accusers)? In 2018, in the course of a few months, several people came to the my law office, complaining of the same thing—that they were healthcare workers falsely accused of neglect or abuse by their racially-biased employers and as a result were administratively ...

In 2018, in the course of a few months, several people came to the my law office, complaining of the same thing—that they were healthcare workers falsely accused of neglect or abuse by their racially-biased employers and as a result were administratively prosecuted and unjustly found guilty by the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. The “Justice Center” employs procedures that deny to workers accused of neglect or abuse the basic due process right to confront their accusers, by prosecuting the cases on hearsay evidence alone over 95% of the time. What I have concluded in litigating three cases that came to my office ...

Censorship is alive and well and growing again. It’s happened in the past and it is happening now. A few examples: A bill has been introduced in Oklahoma to charge teachers personally from their own pockets, $10,000 per incident per individual if they teach any biology that offends Christian principles. [i] In an attempt to use the strategy of the Texas anti-abortion law, Republican state Senator Rob Standridge has sponsored a bill he is calling the “Students’ Religious Belief Protection Act”. Under his proposed law, parents could demand the removal of any book with perceived anti-religious content. This could include things like LGBTQ issues, the ...

The Ethics of Advocating Against COVID Vaccine Mandates By Michael Diederich, Jr. A famous professional athlete, [1] unvaccinated against COVID-19, arrives at your law office seeking representation relating to his opposition to any vaccination. He has (hypothetically) been turned down for a tennis coaching job at a tennis academy in Queens, New York. He wishes to prove his point that he is entitled to work in his chosen field, without a mask and unvaccinated. Earlier the same day, a New York City public schoolteacher has come to the law office seeking legal review of her letter of resignation, as she is being forced to resign because of her fear of being ...

A Civil Rights Lawyers’ Perspective on COVID Mandates in New York State during the Pandemic By Michael Diederich, Jr. [1] 27 Jan. 2022 As a civil rights practitioner who personally believes that vaccination is a vital tool for protecting society against the COVID-19 virus, I ask myself: What “civil liberties” are we talking about regarding Covid mandates? Covid, especially in its original COVID-19 and Delta variant versions, is a deadly disease. Fighting the Covid virus has become, it seems, a culture wars fight—a highly charged game of political football, with the Red team using individual “liberty” and the Blue team using public safety to score points ...

Civil Rights & Liberties at Risk in 21 st Century America and in New York State By Mike Diederich, Jr . I have been on the NYSBA Civil Rights Committee for a few years now, but have not posted on its Blog. This is despite having written several draft pieces that I intended to post. Well, since perfect is the enemy of the good (Voltaire: “Il meglio è nemico del bene") , I have decided to post some of what I have written, even though perhaps not quite the best finished product. I solicit your comments (by email or phone) to help improve what I post into something that might be suitable for publication in, say, the NYSBA Journal. ...