New York court rules state ethics commission unconstitutional
New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle ruled Monday in the case Cuomo v. New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (NYSCOELIG) that NYSCOELIG violates the New York State Constitution due to its statutorily prescribed independence. NYSCOELIG was created under New York Executive Law §94 as an independent ethics watchdog. Marcelle stated [...]
While the immediate threats to women’s access to healthcare are obvious, it could be years before the United States comes to terms with the gravity of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion. This brief essay focuses on why Dobbs is celebrated by white supremacists as an answer to “the great replacement,” a type [...]
The other day, when I woke up in the morning, I thought that I should go to Kyiv and do my part by remembering George Orwell and the Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, and paying homage to Catalonia. My 66 year old body shortly thereafter said that the Ukrainians are not asking for [...]
The Boston Globe has a new series on Future Proofing the Presidency, making a case for prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Just for the record, in DC the basic Presidential criminality approach is: 1) The President gets an interpretation of the law from a lawyer somewhere such as in the Office of Legal Counsel [...]
Memorial Day 2021 Redux: The Fighting Three Wars Photo That Haunts All of the US
The Photo That Haunts All of the United States In a recent JURIST post commemorating Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, one of us wrote about a photo that haunts us. Thanks to the kindness of Alessio Parisi, we are now able to share that photo with you. It is above in black and white and [...]
1. Beneficiaries of Gender Discrimination I am a beneficiary of gender discrimination. I know this because in 1986 when I started working as Legal Counsel at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, France, I was doing a job at which several of my colleagues wondered whether women should be Legal Counsel. All of [...]
What a black Secretary of Defense has to put up with. Appalling. Also appalling. I think of all the black soldiers lynched in their uniforms when they came home in our history by those who could not handle a black man in uniform. I think of all the black soldiers who in overseas theaters had [...]
C’mon Man: Diversity and International Arbitration Slight Return
Well, some say life will beat you down Break your heart, steal your crown So I’ve started out for God-knows-where I guess I’ll know when I get there – Learning to Fly, Tom Petty, and the Heartbreakers I was brought back to the numbers in this article by Dr. Katherine Simpson titled “ International Commercial [...]
Cuomo COVID-19 Hypocrisy: A New Level In Neanderthal Thinking
Governor Cuomo is in hot water on three fronts: the COVID-19 limitation of liability for nursing homes order he did, the undercounting/reporting of nursing home deaths, and the sexual harassment in the workplace and otherwise. This note will focus on the hypocrisy with respect to the first of these: the COVID-19 limitation of liability for [...]
It’s Exhausting Being White: The Sick Rush to “Healing” from the Capitol Insurrection
Photo Caption: In the early 60’s Ben and Dorothy Davis integrated the all-white Brookside Elementary School in Montclair, New Jersey I watched the debates in the House with respect to impeachment. I was struck by all the citations to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural by all sides in the debates, with his emphasis on healing of the [...]
