Browse Items (9 total)

This symposium essay argues through the lens of freedom of speech that state constitutional adjudication is unclear and unfocused, and that New York's Court of Appeals should be more explicit and more consistent in applying New York State's…

In 1992, Judge Fritz Alexander retired. Governor Mario Cuomo’s decision on a replacement for Fritz Alexander could well decide the fate of a long and proud New York tradition of protecting fundamental rights and liberties regardless of the ebb and…

Independent state constitutionalism is a venerable tradition in New York. Safeguarding fundamental rights and liberties based on New York law–regardless of the federal law–is at least as old as the state’s highest tribunal. Currently, with William H.…

This article traces the independent state-law based protection of individual rights and liberties by the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, since its earliest years in the mid-nineteenth century. The practice of developing a body…

When Judith Kaye was elevated by New York's then-Governor Mario Cuomo to the center seat of the state's highest court, she was already a national leader in promoting judicial federalism. In her judicial opinions as an Associate Judge of the Court of…

In this introductory essay, Professor Vincent M. Bonventre begins to explore the “reactive” era of the New York State Court of Appeals under Chief Judge Sol Wachtler. Professor Bonventre discusses the reliance of the Court on the state constitution…

The inaugural State Constitutional Law Review triggered considerable reaction. Some in high places, including current and former members of the Court, were quite upset. They apparently took offense at the author’s observations that the Court under…

New York has a long and proud tradition of state constitutionalism. With state constitutional law enjoying a “renaissance” throughout the nation in response to the retrenchment in civil rights and liberties at the Supreme Court during the…

This article advocates and cautiously foresees a more mature, confident, consistent, less reactive, and more truly independent state constitutional adjudication at the state high courts as they become more familiar and comfortable with some…