Law Commons^™

The Emergency Next Time, Noa Ben-Asher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a new conceptual framework to understand the connection between law and violence in emergencies. It is by now well-established that governments often commit state violence in times of national security crisis by implementing excessive emergency measures. The Article calls this type of legal violence “Emergency-Affirming Violence.” But Emergency Violence can also be committed through governmental non-action. This type of violence, which this Article calls, “Emergency-Denying Violence,” has manifested in the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Article offers a taxonomy to better understand the phenomenon of Emergency Violence. Using 9/11 and COVID-19 as examples, the Article proposes …

Beyond Corporate Form: A Response To Dan Depasquale, Surbhi Sarang, And Natalie Bump Vena’S Forging Food Justice Through Cooperatives In New York City, Jonathan Brown

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In their article, Forging Food Justice Through Cooperatives in New York City, Dan DePasquale, Surbhi Sarang, and Natalie Bump Vena (the “Authors”) argue that consumer-owned and worker-owned cooperatives hold promise as a means for advancing policy objectives associated with “food justice,” namely building community wealth and power and providing more affordable access to healthy food in low-income and minority communities. Looking to examples of legislation and policies in other jurisdictions, they advocate for a wide range of policies to promote the viability of cooperatives in New York City, including reforms to cooperative corporation laws and strategies for better allocating funding …

Low Carbon Land Use: Paris, Pittsburgh, And The Ipcc, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article describes strategies that local governments are employing to both mitigate and adapt to climate change, using their state-given powers to plan community development and to regulate private building. Local governments have significant legal authority to shape human settlements and, in so doing, lower CO2 emissions from buildings and vehicles, increase the sequestration of carbon by the natural environment, and promote distributed energy systems and renewable energy facilities that lower fossil fuel consumption. Local elected leaders are highly motivated to avoid the on-the-ground consequences of our changing climate. The effects of climate change manifest themselves at the local level, …

Environmental Human Rights In New York’S Constitution, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

There is an environmental case to be made in favor of convening a Constitutional Convention. On the 200th anniversary birth of Henry David Thoreau, we can remember his admonition: “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” What has this to do with the Constitution?

Transition Support Mechanisms For Communities Facing Full Or Partial Coal Power Plant Retirement In New York, Lisa Anne Hamilton, Radina Valova, Karl R. Rábago

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

New York State is undergoing a rapid and unprecedented energy transformation, particularly in the electricity sector. As new resources and technologies emerge to meet the demands of 21st century life, regulators must balance the need for cost effective and equitable participation in wholesale power markets while maintaining reliability on the grid. Furthermore, it is critical that all New Yorkers participate fully in the promise of a revitalized and equitable energy future. Such a transformation requires that the needs of all communities are factored into the polices and regulations that move New York toward the bold goals set forth under its …

The Nypd And The Mentally Ill, Randolph M. Mclaughlin, Debra S. Cohen

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Recently, a federal court judge cleared the way for a trial in the case of Mohamed Bah, a 28-year-old student killed in his home by NYPD officers after his mother, Hawa Bah, called 911 for assistance to take him to a hospital. Southern District Judge P. Kevin Castel's ruling denied New York City's motion seeking to dismiss claims of unlawful entry and excessive force against the police officers who responded to Mr. Bah's apartment, breached his door and then shot and killed him. Mr. Bah's family alleges that the final and fatal shot to Mr. Bah's head was inflicted at …

Zoning’S Centennial: A Complete Account Of The Evolution Of Zoning Into A Robust System Of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part Iv), John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Fracking is happening and local governments are subjected to many of its associated risks. They either need to act, or know—clearly and convincingly—why they should not. The federal government has stopped far short of comprehensive regulation of fracking; the states’ regulations range from fair to poor, sometimes preempting local regulation but most often sharing regulatory authority over land use impacts.

Zoning’S Centennial: A Complete Account Of The Evolution Of Zoning Into A Robust System Of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part Iii), John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In land use, there are two things that Americans dislike: one is sprawl, the other is density. This catch-22 can be resolved by mitigating those aspects of urban living associated with density: congestion, bulky buildings, sameness, design incongruities, unsafe streets, inefficiency, and the sense that neighborhoods are not livable and pleasant. These characteristics of density cut against sustainability. They define places that people want to leave as soon as they can. To reduce vehicle miles travelled and carbon emissions, as well as to prevent sprawl, we must create places of enduring value, located next to transit in walkable and sustainable …

Zoning’S Centennial: A Complete Account Of The Evolution Of Zoning Into A Robust System Of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part Ii), John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The idea that local land use law can intelligently shape settlement patterns was not a familiar concept in the late 1960s when the Town of Ramapo, New York adopted an ordinance that delayed development permits until the Town could provide needed infrastructure. Ramapo was experiencing unprecedented growth as one of the closest northern suburbs of New York City. Developers, who in some cases had to wait years for services to their land, sued; they argued that these phased development controls were intended to prohibit subdivisions and restrict population growth, which is not authorized under the state’s zoning enabling legislation.

New …

Zoning’S Centennial: A Complete Account Of The Evolution Of Zoning Into A Robust System Of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part I), John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

2016 is the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the first citywide comprehensive zoning law. Its original purpose was to create districts that separated incompatible land uses and building types in order to protect property values and promote the health, safety, and welfare of the community. 100 years later, zoning is used to achieve an impressive number of public objectives such as permitting transit oriented development, creating green infrastructure, preserving habitat, species, and wetlands, promoting renewable energy facilities, reducing vehicle miles traveled, and preserving the sequestering landscape.

What's Going On In Our Prisons?, Michael B. Mushlin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Additional governmental oversight is urgently needed to truly change the culture of a system that holds 53,000 inmates across 54 prisons in New York State. What goes on inside these prisons is largely hidden from view, and there is little accountability for wrongdoing. The State Legislature should follow the A.B.A.’s guidance and establish a monitoring body with unfettered access to prison facilities, staff, inmates and records in announced or unannounced visits.

Written Testimony On Correctional Oversight Of The Nys Doccs, Michael B. Mushlin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

I am testifying today on behalf of both myself and my co-chair Michele Deitch, who has submitted written testimony for your consideration. My comments here reflect both the key points in her testimony as well as some of my own thoughts about the importance of external oversight and comments about the critical role played by the Correctional Association of New York, the failure of the State Commission on Correction to provide meaningful regulation of New York’s prisons, and the need to improve access by the media to the public and to the state’s prisons.

Incorporating Ny Land Banks Into The Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement Processes, J. Justin Woods

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

This article argues that New York municipalities should integrate land banks into the tax enforcement process to break the unhealthy cycle perpetuated by real estate and lien speculators. By transferring all tax liens and foreclosed properties to local land banks, municipalities can generate an important funding source that will help cover land banks' operations while simultaneously maximizing land banks' ability to reinvest lien proceeds and equity into redeveloping or demolishing properties with little or no value. If New York municipalities use their Land Bank Act powers fully, local and regional land bank efforts can become a vital tools for planning …

New York City Rules! Regulatory Models For Environmental And Public Health, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Scholars have become increasingly interested in facilitating improvement in environmental and public health at the local level. Over the last few years, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Council have proposed and adopted numerous environmental and public health initiatives, providing a useful case study for analyzing the development and success (or failure) of various regulatory tools, and offering larger lessons about regulation that can be extrapolated to other substantive areas. This Article, first, seeks to categorize and evaluate these “New York Rules,” creating a new taxonomy to understand different types of regulation. These “New …

The State Response To Climate Change: 50 State Survey, Laura Jensen, Kelly Nishikawa, Benjamin Lowenthal

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This survey accompanies Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, Second Edition (Michael B. Gerrard and Jody Freeman, eds, 2014). It compiles state legislation, rules and executive orders that specifically address climate change as of the end of April 2014. It also includes a wide variety of state activities that may have an impact on greenhouse gases including legislation related to energy efficiency and renewable energy. The focus of this material is to provide readers with an understanding of the range of state activity that may contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and climate change. Some types of energy efficiency, alternative fuels …

Learning From Washington: A New Approach To Analyzing The Structure Of New York City's Government, David S. Yassky

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Mr. Yassky delivered these remarks on February 18, 2013, at the symposium Process, Powers, and Lessons for the Future: 25 Years of New York City Charter Revisions, sponsored by the Center for New York City Law and the New York Law School Law Review and held at New York Law School. Mr. Yassky’s remarks were given as part of the panel titled The Balance of Powers Under the New York City Charter and are followed by a dialogue between Mr. Yassky and the other members of that panel: John Avlon, Senior Political Columnist, Newsweek; Elizabeth Fine, General Counsel, New York …

Mitigating The Adverse Impacts Of Hydraulic Fracturing: A Role For Local Zoning?, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the action localities have taken toward mitigating some of the adverse impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking. The Article will explore impacts at the local level and will show the governance gap that has resulted from federal and state regulations that leave many local impacts unmitigated. Zoning laws and other practices that local governments are adopting are also discussed, explaining why state preemption over the traditional role of local governments in regulating this particular heavy industrial activity is not the ideal situation.

Seeking Justice In The Empire State: Court Of Appeals Broadens The Reach Of Long Arm Jurisdiction And Clarifies The Statutory Guidelines For Application Of Cplr Section 302(A)(1), Jay C. Carlisle

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article will discuss developments in long-arm jurisdiction under CPLR section 302(a)(1)1 and analyze the recent New York State Court of Appeals‘s thoughtful and instructive decision in Licci ex rel. Licci v. Lebanese Canadian Bank, SAL. Licci decided the question of whether a non-domiciliary‘s maintenance of a bank account in New York constituted a “transaction of business” out of which the plaintiff‘s claims arose under the state‘s long-arm statute. The Licci plaintiffs had alleged that the defendant funded a terrorist organization responsible for the injuries and deaths of certain plaintiffs and decedents they represented. The Licci opinion did not decide …

Preface To Protecting The Environment Through Land Use Law: Standing Ground, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Protecting the Environment Through Land Use Law: Standing Ground takes a close look at the historical struggle of local governments to balance land development with natural resource conservation. This book updates and expands on his four previous books, which established a comprehensive framework for understanding the many ways that local land use authority can be used to preserve natural resources and environmental functions at the community level. Standing Ground describes in detail how localities are responding to new challenges, including the imperative that they adapt to and help mitigate climate change and create sustainable neighborhoods. This body of work emphasizes …

Changes Spark Interest In Sustainable Urban Places: But How Do We Identify And Support Them?, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Changes in climatic and demographic trends are sparking renewed interest in cities generally and sustainable communities particularly. On the one hand, residents and workers in denser, mixed-use neighborhoods served by transit have half the carbon footprint of those in spread-out suburban areas. On the other hand, many of the smaller households that characterize the nation’s growing population prefer to live in precisely those compact, mixed-use neighborhoods. In New York, these changes align with several new state policies that encourage cities and towns to reduce carbon emissions, reduce vehicle travel, create sustainable buildings and neighborhoods, and preserve the landscapes that sequester …

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: The Search For Solutions That Are Just Right, John R. Nolon, Tiffany Zezula

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A federal False Claims Act action against Westchester County, New York launched a unique effort to explore whether zoning, subsidies, and advocacy could significantly Increase the percentage of minorities living in largely white communities. A Voluntary Cooperation Agreement entered into by Marin County, California raises a similar question. This article describes the legal background of the lawsuit brought against Westchester County, the Settlement Agreement that arose from it, and the attempt by Westchester County to carry out its obligations to affirmatively further fair housing. It traces the evolution of exclusionary zoning law in New York State courts, contrasts it to …

Land Use For Economic Development In Tough Financial Times, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The recession hit cities hard. Basic municipal staffs and services are being cut, debt is being restructured, capital projects delayed, and other cost cutting measures reported. The Congressional Budget Office reports that by November of last year there were 241,000 fewer municipal employees than there were three years earlier when the recession began. In its most recent report from city finance officers, the National League of Cities states that city spending cutbacks since 2009 are the largest since the survey was first taken, over twenty-five years ago. Despite this serious trend, municipalities have not defaulted in debt payment and there …

The Family Court—A Short History, Merril Sobie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The New York State Family Court was established in 1962. The framer's intent, which was largely achieved, was the formation of an omnibus tribunal capable of adjudicating every justiciable family related dispute. Accordingly, Family Court incorporated the former State Children's Courts, the domestic violence parts of the local criminal courts, and the paternity parts of the former Court of Special Sessions. In addition, Family Court was granted adoption and abandonment jurisdiction, concurrent child custody jurisdiction, and concurrent post-divorce modification and enforcement jurisdiction. This paper will outline the pre-Family Court history in synopsis form, and briefly describe the Court's post-1962 developments.

Capturing Individual Harms, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The aggregated lifestyles and behaviors of individuals impose significant environmental harms yet remain largely unregulated. A growing literature recognizes the environmental significance of individual behaviors, critiques the failure of environmental law and policy to capture harms traceable to individual behaviors, and suggests and evaluates strategies for capturing individual harms going forward. This Article contributes to the existing literature by approaching the problem of environmentally significant individual harms through the lens of environmental federalism. Using climate change and individual greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions as an exemplar, the Article illustrates how local information, local governments, and local implementation can enhance policies designed …

Wildlife Management And The Forest Preserve, Jeffrey Auger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

The forever wild language of Article XIV of the New York State Constitution has sparked debate and controversy ever since its enactment. This paper examines how the Forest Preserves affect wildlife contained within the “wild forest lands” protected under Article XIV. Through examining the history of the article’s adoption it becomes clear that wildlife concerns were a chief motivating factor in preserving these forests. The paper then examines how wildlife is managed in New York, and discusses certain practices that may have implications on the “forever wild” designation. The economic and social benefits of hunting, fishing, and hiking for New …

A Trusting Public: How The Public Trust Doctrine Can Save The New York Forest Preserve, Katherine R. Leisch

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

The public trust doctrine was instituted in England as a permanent limitation on the powers of the Crown. The well-established doctrine was brought to America and applied equally in the states even after the states seceded from England. The doctrine has since served as an indestructible check on the government. Article XIV of the New York State Constitution ensures protection of its wilderness in perpetuity, solidifying the forest preserve as part of the public trust. The paper traces the beginnings of the public trust doctrine and its eventual application Article XIV. The author contemplates the indestructibility of the Forest Preserve …

Concerning The Constitutionality Of Hydro-Fracking The Marcellus Shale, Sean Dillon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

The entire Marcellus Shale, from the Catskills of New York down to the northwestern border of West Virginia, is estimated to contain as little as 168 to as much as 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, resulting in major “shale play” in the region. If calculations are accurate, the Marcellus Shale may be one of the largest potential sources of any type of energy in this country. But the prospect of mining the Marcellus Shale is not without its downfalls. The extraction method to be used in these operations - a technique called hydraulic fracturing, also known as “hydro-fracking” …

Two Endangered Species In The Adirondacks In The Context Of Constitutional “Wilderness”, Michael A. Dibrizzi

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

Our society has developed with a distinct homocentric view toward the natural world and all of its inhabitants. Wildlife has mostly been regarded as the exclusive chattel of man to dispense with at his discretion. This attitude has led to the extinction of some species and near extinction of many others. Through legislation, lawmakers have attempted to regulate management and exploitation of different species, with varying success. The goal of good environmental regulations is to break from traditional views; regulations in recognizing man’s superiority and control over the natural world will impose a responsibility on man to protect and preserve …

“Forever Wild”: Legal Aspects Of Natural Resource Extraction In And Around The New York State Forest Preserve, Michael D. Henderson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

Since its inception in 1894, Article XIV of the New York State Constitution has served as a baseline for environmental protection of the New York Forest Preserve. Yet today it has become apparent to those who study or simply enjoy the Adirondack and Catskill regions that our goal in preservation is much more. We preserve wilderness so we can hold on to a piece of the past, a piece of America’s history. That said the issue is what constitutes wilderness – a legally designated wilderness area, wilderness as a common term or land that embraces the “Forever Wild” aesthetic. This …

Interpreting Article Xiv Of The New York Constitution: The Legal Measures That Mandate Sustainable Economic Development And Maintenance Of Forever-Wild Forest In The Adirondacks, Chih-Yao Sun

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

The Forever Wild clause enacted by the legislature aimed at protecting drinking water and commerce. The language of the Forever Wild clause has offered a strong and perpetual protection that serves the purpose of people of New York State. Any amendments will only weaken the article. To support the position that the Forever Wild clause should remain as is, the paper examines the long-ignored economic value provided by the Adirondacks Forest Preserve. The paper also proposes plausible sustainable developments and illustrates why state government has the duty to promote economic well-being in local communities.