State Court Watch

Welcome to State Court Watch, a project of the Law, Youth and Citizenship Program of the New York State Bar Association. This website is a resource for teachers and students interested in enhancing Social Studies curricula by making connections between state case law, famous U.S. Supreme Court cases, and topics covered in U.S. Government and citizenship classes. These connections make real the concepts of federalism and separation of powers that are important components of U.S. government at all levels of instruction.

• How to Use This Site
• Interviews for Understanding
• Related U.S. Supreme Court Cases
• Related Concepts and Topics
• Related We The People Units
• New York State Cases Summaries
• New York State Court Information
• Useful Links
• About Us

Spotlight

• LYC Conference 2009: Pamela Katz, Director of State Court Watch, presented a talk about "International Trade and the Environment." The session showed how students can take the dilemma of the economy v. the environment to the next level by looking at the World Trade Organization and how free trade intersects with environmental protection. Current examples involving genetically modified foods and protection of dolphins in fishing industries, among others, were discussed. Click here for links to the debate topics presented as well as various Internet resources on the subject.
  
  
• Judge LiLan of the Shanghai High Court discusses judicial selection in China.
  
  
• "You Be the Judge" hypothetical for New York State Bar Association Conference, January 28,2009: An anti-Obama student group plans a protest at school with the help of an art teacher. The sushi hits the fan when another student photographs the planning using his cell phone at school, a clear violation of school policy.
  
  
• Interviews for Understanding. This new addition to State Court Watch includes audiobroadcasts of short excerpts of interviews with individuals involved with all branches of New York State government designed to enhance understanding of the concepts and cases covered on the website.
  
  Listen to retired Chief Judge Judith Kaye's views on:
  • The New York State's court structure
  • Being Chief Judge of New York's highest court
  • Federalism
  • Supremacy Clause
  • Family Court reform
  
  
  Listen to retired Court of Appeals Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt's views on
  • Federalism
  • Supremacy Clause
  • Death Penalty
  • Establishment Clause
  
  
  Listen to New York State Senator Neil Breslin's views on:
  • The importance of state government
  • Legislative process: An Example: A Bill to Ban Text Messaging While Driving
  • The role of the state legislature in judicial appointments
  • The importance of unions
  • The role of the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee



• In March, 2005 the New York State Court of Appeals ordered New York City to release more than 12,000 pages of oral histories rendered in the voices of 503 firefighter, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians.  That case is summarized at Matter of New York Times Company v. City of New York Fire Department. The oral histories and other records released as a result of this case can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/sept11.

• Post 9/11, the Bush administration issued a document entitled "Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies."   Interestingly, the document  contains a  "national security" exception (see Roman numeral II), which may be interesting to those familiar with Korematsu v. U.S., linked to Lyles v. State of New York on the issue of racial profiling. 

• Webcasts of selected New York State Court of  Appeals cases can be found on the Court of Appeals website.  Webcasts are live video-recordings of the attorneys’ arguments before the Court.  The following cases summarized by State Court Watch are webcasted:

  People v. LaValle

  Paynter v. State

  Pataki v. Assembly / Silver v. Pataki

WWW StateCourtWatch.org