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.

Website: http://www.newyorkcourtwatcher.com/
Follow:

New York Court Watcher Blogs

New York Court Watcher

Blog Authors

Vin Bonventre
Emily MacLoud

Latest from New York Court Watcher

More Aftermath of Scalia’s Dreadful Oregon v. Smith Opinion Last week, in Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany v. Vullo, a New York appellate court rejected religious objections to paying for abortion coverage. The state’s Appellate Division, Third Department, voted unanimously to deny the Albany Catholic Diocese, as well as other religious groups, an exemption from New York’s…
As this is being prepared, the 5-4 Court–Roberts voting with the liberals–invalidated the Louisiana abortion restrictions. More on that and on that continuing pattern below. Source:Reuters/Leah Mills We’ve previously looked at Chief Justice Roberts’ breaking with his conservative colleagues and aligning with the Court’s liberals to help form majorities in politically charged cases dealing…
Source: AP/Dave Tulis/Larry Downing In Part 1, we saw how Chief Justice Roberts joined decisions that saved so-called Obamacare and that protected immigrants. In those cases, he often authored the majority opinion himself, allying himself with his liberal colleagues to render decisions that triggered unconcealed outrage on the part of all or most of his conservative colleagues in dissent. We…
Source: Reuters//Jonathan Ernst Sure, let’s not go overboard. Despite some recent decisions welcomed by political liberals, the Supreme Court has hardly turned liberal. Indeed, most decisions of the past year–let alone of the last few decades–have been those favored by political conservatives. Whether in civil rights and liberties, the rights of the accused, employment and labor law, war…
Pandemic restrictions, transitioning to remote teaching, exams, grading, other projects, preoccupation with breaking news, etc. Now back at last. In the first post in this series, we took a look at Justice Niel Gorsuch’s voting record immediately following his appointment in the final few months of the 2016-17 term. As shown in that post, Gorsuch voted for the politically conservative side of…
Henry J. Abraham, University of Virginia Professor Emeritus, passed away last week at the age of 98. My Ph.D. mentor–and adopted "Uncle Henry"–was unconditionally cherished by so many of us over his more than 50 years of teaching. All of us in the "Tribe of Abraham" are heartbroken. I’m so glad I spent time with him last month. A few recent appreciations: A Life Uncommon (https://…
CapPrrmLogo2.jpg
To begin the New Year, here are a few appearances late last year on radio, TV, and podcast, commenting on a variety of constitutional and judicial matters of national and state interest. In the coming posts, we’ll tend to some other overdue matters.Meanwhile, wishing all a very happy, healthy 2020! December30, 2019: Cuomo’s reshaping of the Court of Appeals In his nine years in the Governor’s Office, Andrew Cuomo has reshaped the state’s highest court.…
GorsuchTrump.jpg
In the previous post, we saw how studies of Neil Gorsuch’s judicial record prior to his nomination by President Trump for the Supreme Court showed him to be among the most politically conservative members of the federal judiciary. We also saw how his record immediately following his appointment, the last couple of months of the Supreme Court’s 2016-17 term—the spring of 2017—reflected the very same strong politically conservative leanings. In fact, together with Justice…
Slide10.jpg
President Trump’s first appointee, Neil Gorsuch, took his seat on the Supreme Court in the spring of 2017. By that time, judicial scholars–both political scientists and law professors–had studied his record on the federal appeals court from which he was elevated. Based on his voting patterns as an appellate judge, Gorsuch’s position among the other federal judges on the ideological spectrum had been mapped. Similarly, once he was nominated, his ideological place on the Supreme…
jwilson.jpg
In the last post, we looked at two dissents that protested majority decisions at New York’s highest court that overturned convictions because of errors having nothing to do with guilt or innocence, and where there was no suggestion that the alleged error by the trial judge had caused any prejudice to the defendant. (See Part 4b.) Now we turn to the other two previously previewed dissents that protested majority decisions that upheld convictions, despite serious…