Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/APIn the first installment in this series, back in December last year, we saw that Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s voting record had unmistakenly moderated. It had become less politically conservative in the most recently completed term of Court,
New York Court Watcher
Vincent Martin Bonventre, the Justice Robert H. Jackson Distinguished Professor at Albany Law School, inaugurated New York Court Watcher in May 2008. Court observer Bonventre offers research and commentary on the United States Supreme Court, the New York Court of Appeals, and other federal and state courts on a wide range of public law issues.
Since its inception, New York Court Watcher has published several hundred commentaries. Virtually all of them are based on original research. Voting patterns of Justices and judges, as well as decisional patterns of the courts on which they sit, are a staple of the commentaries. Courts, Justices and judges, and the politics surrounding them--as well as practiced by them--are examined from a realistic and practical perspective. That is, legal realism as opposed to formalism. From the perspective of a political scientist as well as a lawyer.
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Cooke Symposium 2025: Criminal Justice on Trial
The Albany Law Review PresentsThe 15th Annual Chief Judge Lawrence Cooke SymposiumApril 15, 2025Albany Law School
New York’s Harvey Weinstein Decision
MOLINEUX MEETS #METOO:EVALUATING THE MEDIA’S COVERAGE OF PEOPLE V. WEINSTEIN AND THE NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALSby Sarah Midani (Albany Law School, Class of 2025; Editor-in-Chief, Albany LawReview)As Ms. Midani writes, the New York high court’s decision to overturn Harvey…
Splinters in the 6-3 Supreme Court (Part 2: Amy Coney Barrett cont’d)
Justice Barrett with liberal Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson.Credit: Supreme Court CollectionOn January 9, shortly after this series began (see Part 1), the Supreme Court rejected then-President-Elect Donald Trump’s request to halt the New York State criminal proceedings against him. Specifically,…
Splinters in the 6-3 Supreme Court (Part 1: Amy Coney Barrett)
In the last few months, I’ve been busy with lectures (CLEs and other presentations) on the Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals. I thought I’d share here on New York Court Watcher some of what my research…
Part 6, Who’s Dissenting?–NYCOA: The Wilson Uptick
Dissents, both opinions and votes, are particularly revealing. As I’ve explained numerous times on New York Court Watcher [See e.g., NYCOA: Criminal Appeals (Part 3)–Voting & Decisional Patterns (Mar. 13, 2019)] and elsewhere [See e.g., Great Dissents: ‘Matters of High Principle’…
Part 5, More on Caseload and on Criminal Appeals–NYCOA: The Wilson Uptick
The Court of Appeals remains the focus for now. Yes, dramatic developments at the Supreme Court should and will be addressed. Meanwhile, remember that for New Yorkers, our lives under the law are much more directly and regularly affected by…
Part 4, Update and More on Criminal Appeals–NYCOA: The Wilson Uptick
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the first 4 months of Rowan Wilson’s tenure as New York’s Chief Judge and saw a 45% increase in total appeals calendared over the corresponding period the previous year. In Part 2, we saw…
Being Chief Judge with Rowan Wilson and Jonathan Lippman
The Eminence and Experience–and Exhaustion–of Being New York’s Chief JudgeThe 14th Annual Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke SymposiumAlbany Law School, April 25, 2024
Part 3, More on Criminal Appeals–NYCOA: The Wilson Uptick
In Part 1 of this series, we saw that the number of cases calendared for a hearing at the Court of Appeals in the first 4 months since Rowan Wilson became New York’s Chief Judge increased significantly. A 45% increase…