CUNY School of Law News http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law News & Events Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:08:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 Jonathan Libby (’96) to Argue in Front of US Supreme Court http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/21/jonathan-libby-96-to-argue-in-front-of-us-supreme-court/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/21/jonathan-libby-96-to-argue-in-front-of-us-supreme-court/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:00:51 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18366 United States v. Alvarez in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, February 22.]]> Alum Jonathan Libby (’96) will represent Xavier Alvarez in United States v. Alvarez in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, February 22. At issue is whether a provision of the Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Act criminalizes false representations that one has “been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States, any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration, or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item.”

Jonathan Libby ('96)

Jonathan Libby ('96)

Xavier Alvarez was an elected board member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Pomona, California. Alvarez introduced himself publicly at a meeting as a former Marine with twenty-five years of service who had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. As his attorneys admit, Alvarez had never served in the military or received any military medals.

Libby is a deputy federal public defender at Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles who frequently argues before the Ninth Circuit. This is his first United States Supreme Court Appearance.

Libby returned to CUNY Law on February 14th to discuss the case with faculty members, with Moot Court, and with students in Professor Ruthann Robson’s First Amendment class.

Read more:

]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/21/jonathan-libby-96-to-argue-in-front-of-us-supreme-court/feed/ 0 Joey Mogul (’97) and Team Earn Civil Rights Legal Victory http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/16/joey-mogul-97-and-team-earn-civil-rights-legal-victory/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/16/joey-mogul-97-and-team-earn-civil-rights-legal-victory/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:51 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18363 Alum Joey Mogul (’97) is one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit brought against the Chicago Police Department. During a 2003 demonstration against the Iraq War, more than 700 people were arrested. After a ruling from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last year that said peaceful protesters could not be arrested without warning merely because they did not have permit, the City of Chicago has now settled with the plaintiffs to pay $6.2 million in compensation.

Mogul is a partner in the People’s Law Office, a leading Chicago civil rights firm, and teaches the Civil Rights Clinic at DePaul University College of Law.

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]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/16/joey-mogul-97-and-team-earn-civil-rights-legal-victory/feed/ 0 CUNY Law Remembers Civil Rights Champion Hon. Robert L. Carter for Black History Month http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/14/cuny-law-remembers-civil-rights-champion-hon-robert-l-carter-for-black-history-month/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/14/cuny-law-remembers-civil-rights-champion-hon-robert-l-carter-for-black-history-month/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:00:27 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18332 CUNY Law salutes the courageous life of Robert L. Carter, who died on January 3, 2012 at the age of 94. Judge Carter was an architect of the case which led to the end of legal segregation in the U.S. in his role as lead counsel in consolidated case No. 1 of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al. Judge Carter was also a core litigator in numerous landmark cases in the legal campaign against Jim Crow in the United States. He was the fourth holder of the Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights at CUNY Law and taught a civil rights litigation seminar during the 1999-2000 academic year.

Read the The New York Times tribute

Read Judge Carter’s article “Brown at 50: The Long Road to Equality” which appeared in The Nation magazine in 2004.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Judge Carter in “A Conversation Between Two Civil Rights Giants”, a CUNY Law program held October 12, 2000, in which Judge Carter and South African jurist and anti-apartheid activist Albie Sachs, the fifth holder of the Haywood Burns Chair, discussed the campaigns to overthrow apartheid in their respective countries. [© 2012 CUNY School of Law]

Watch the full two-part panel above, on YouTube, or as a free download from iTunes U.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A lecture from Judge Carter on the Brown v. Board of Education case in his CUNY Law class held September 1, 1999 [© 2012 CUNY School of Law]

Watch the full panel above, on YouTube, or as a free download from iTunes U.
]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/02/14/cuny-law-remembers-civil-rights-champion-hon-robert-l-carter-for-black-history-month/feed/ 0 Angela Hines (’05) Launches Project Window http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/26/angela-hines-05-launches-project-window/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/26/angela-hines-05-launches-project-window/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:00:53 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18322 Project Window aims to promote]]> Alum Angela Hines (’05) recently launched a nonprofit organization to support girls living in low-income housing in Far Rockaway. According to the article, Project Window aims to promote interpersonal skills and teach girls the importance of education. Hines said, “I wanted to give back to my community and give young girls a safe place they can call home.”

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]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/26/angela-hines-05-launches-project-window/feed/ 0 Prof. Rossein Named Independent EEO Consultant After Federal Lawsuit Decision http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/25/prof-rossein-named-independent-eeo-consultant-after-federal-lawsuit-decision/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/25/prof-rossein-named-independent-eeo-consultant-after-federal-lawsuit-decision/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:00:22 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18309 U.S. and the Vulcan Society v. the City of New York. The case, filed]]> Professor Rick Rossein has been selected as the Independent EEO Consultant in the wake of a U.S. District Court decision in U.S. and the Vulcan Society v. the City of New York. The case, filed first by the Department of Justice and then the Center for Constitutional Rights, found that the New York City Fire Department’s hiring practices discriminated based on race and ordered major reforms, with the proviso that a consultant develop compliance reforms along with the Court Monitor and the City. Prof. Rossein will be overseeing and developing a compliance program to ensure that the NYFD and the City address and eliminate discriminatory hiring practices based on race.

Professor Rick Rossein

Professor Rick Rossein

Prof. Rossein has an extensive background in civil rights and employment law that includes work at the National Employment Law Project, Queens Legal Services, New York City Bureau of Labor Services, and New York City Commission on Human Rights. In addition, he has litigated numerous employment discrimination cases, including landmark sexual harassment cases, drafted legislation and model sexual harassment regulations, published a three-volume treatise, Employment Discrimination Law and Litigation, and edited Employment Law Desk Book for Human Resource Professionals. He also served as commissioner for equal employment practices under Mayor David Dinkins and was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo to cochair a committee on the Task Force on Sexual Harassment.

Read more about the case

]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/25/prof-rossein-named-independent-eeo-consultant-after-federal-lawsuit-decision/feed/ 0 Judge Jackman-Brown (’86) Joins Queens County Supreme Court http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/judge-jackman-brown-86-joins-queens-county-supreme-court/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/judge-jackman-brown-86-joins-queens-county-supreme-court/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:00:07 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18300 This Friday, Judge Pam Jackman-Brown (’86) will be inducted as a Justice of the Queens County Supreme Court. She was elected to the position on November 8, 2011. Judge Jackman-Brown previously served as a judge in New York City’s Civil Court and Housing Court and was appointed to sit as an Acting Supreme Court Justice in Queens County in 2010. She is a member of CUNY Law’s first graduating class and was the first graduate to become a judge. Before she joined the bench, Judge Jackman-Brown was a court attorney and an attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Division.

Judge Pam Jackman-Brown ('86)

Judge Pam Jackman-Brown ('86)

]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/judge-jackman-brown-86-joins-queens-county-supreme-court/feed/ 0 Eli Federman (’10) on Challenges to Preserving Religious Values http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/eli-federman-10-on-challenges-to-preserving-religious-values/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/eli-federman-10-on-challenges-to-preserving-religious-values/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:25:17 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18298 In a Huffington Post blog entry, Eli Federman (’10) discusses how the Israeli Ultra-Orthodox community Haredi should not resort to violence to preserve heritage and religious values.

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]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/eli-federman-10-on-challenges-to-preserving-religious-values/feed/ 0 Prof. Cox Discusses Search for Kuwait’s National Archives http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/prof-cox-discusses-search-for-kuwaits-national-archives/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/prof-cox-discusses-search-for-kuwaits-national-archives/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:15:05 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18290 a column for JURIST, CUNY Law Librarian and Associate Professor Douglas Cox discusses the missing Kuwaiti national archives that were taken by Iraq in 1990 and the UN Security Council resolution that continues to be leveled against Iraq until the archives are returned.]]> In a column for JURIST, CUNY Law Librarian and Associate Professor Douglas Cox discusses the missing Kuwaiti national archives that were taken by Iraq in 1990 and the UN Security Council resolution that continues to be leveled against Iraq until the archives are returned.

Prof Cox’s previous law library experience includes providing legal reference assistance at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and assisting inmates in the jail law libraries at Rikers Island. He previously practiced law in London and New York focusing on cross-border legal issues and litigation.

Cox recently wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times on why the United States should return to Panama the thousands of boxes of documents it seized during Operation Just Cause in 1989 when Manuel Noriega was ousted from the country. He also wrote an op-ed for Chronicle of Higher Education on how government responses to accessing Wiki-Leaks should be carefully studied by academia and law students.

Read his latest column for JURIST

]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/23/prof-cox-discusses-search-for-kuwaits-national-archives/feed/ 0 Fiordaliza Rodriguez (’99) Quoted in NY Times http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/17/fiordaliza-rodriguez-99-quoted-in-ny-times/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/17/fiordaliza-rodriguez-99-quoted-in-ny-times/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:00:40 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18274 New York Times story about how Latinos view their racial identity.]]> Alum Fiordaliza Rodriguez (’99) was quoted in a New York Times story about how Latinos view their racial identity.

Read the story

]]> http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/17/fiordaliza-rodriguez-99-quoted-in-ny-times/feed/ 0 New IWHR Clinic Reports Focus on Haiti, the Philippines, and Guatemala http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/13/new-iwhr-clinic-reports-focus-on-haiti-the-philippines-and-guatemala/ http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2012/01/13/new-iwhr-clinic-reports-focus-on-haiti-the-philippines-and-guatemala/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:00:54 +0000 cunylaw http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/?p=18260 Center for Reproductive Rights jointly submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on issues related to the status of women’s reproductive rights in the Philippines]]> The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and the Center for Reproductive Rights jointly submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on issues related to the status of women’s reproductive rights in the Philippines. The paper reports on the efforts of the Philippine Government to adopt public health laws that ensure women’s rights. It finds that some specific laws, including a nationwide criminal ban on abortion without any clear exceptions and restrictions on contraceptive information, “constitute an ongoing and immediate threat to women’s life, reproductive health, and rights.”

Read the report

The IWHR Clinic — along with MADRE, the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV), the Global Justice Clinic at NYU School of Law (GJC), and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at UC Hastings College of the Law (CGRS) — also co-authored a report detailing the sexual exploitation women and girls in Haiti have experienced since an earthquake devastated the country in 2010.

The report is based on interviews with Haitian women and girls. It identifies the causes and consequences of sexual exploitation in Haiti and provides recommendations on developing more effective responses.

Read the report

 
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The IWHR Clinic submitted a joint report on women’s rights violations in Guatemala to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The report states that violence and discrimination against women in Guatemala is “rampant” and highlights specific areas of concern including femicide, violence and political discrimination against indigenous women, violence against women in prisons, and human rights violations within the maquilas or sweatshops.

This report was co-authored with MADRE, Muixil, Bárcenas Women’s Workers Committee, Colectivo Artesana, Women’s Link Worldwide, and Guatemala Human Rights Commission.

Read the report

Read more about the Clinic’s past work in Guatemala

 

CUNY Law’s IWHR Clinic is widely recognized for its expertise and contributions to gender jurisprudence and practice of human rights. With domestic or international partners, the clinic engages international and regional human rights and other law- and policy-making institutions to redefine and implement human rights to stop gender and sexualized violence, and to advance reproductive and sexual rights, economic and social rights, and women’s participation generally.

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