Virginia G. Alvarez, Esq. of Alvarez NY Law

01/18/2023

For the first time in its history, the Appellate Term, Second Department empaneled three women of color to hear oral arguments.

11/10/2022

Supreme Court limited free speech in wartime
On November 10, 1919, the US Supreme Court ruled in Abrams v. United States that the federal government could criminalize speech if it was of a type tending to bring about harmful results, in this case resistance to the United States war effort. In a powerful dissenting opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes countered that even during wartime, free speech could only be curtailed when there was clear and "present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about."

This page includes materials relating to the clear and present danger test used in World War iI Espionage Act cases.

11/09/2022

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism
November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet].
On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Ge**er and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States.

The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December, but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Ge**er's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Ge**er House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

11/07/2022

Official website: http://www.pbs.org/unladylike2020 | Rankin (1880-1973) made history as the first woman elected to the U.S. Cong...

06/24/2022

The day we knew was coming since the Supreme Court leak has arrived.
No matter your position. What this amounts to is a demonstration that a well established precedent can be overturned. What remains to be seen is which will be next? Will it be Brown? Loving? Obergfell?

This is what you should be most concerned with. The effect on other matters.

The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was the most anticipated of the court’s term, with political tension surrounding the fight over abortion erupting in May with the leak of a draft opinion indicating a majority of justices intended to end the long-standing precedent.

06/23/2022

Taft-Hartley Act became law
On June 23, 1947, the Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley) became law over a presidential veto. The act was designed to control union excesses.

06/21/2022

Issue: Whether 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A)’s definition of “crime of violence” excludes attempted Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a).

Judgment: Affirmed, 7-2, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch on June 21, 2022. Justices Thomas and Alito filed dissenting opinions.

06/19/2022

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." With the arrival of Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas, the state's residents finally learned about the Emancipation Proclamation (1863); the day became the annual holiday known as Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

https://www.britannica.com/list/riding-freedom-10-milestones-in-us-civil-rights-history

06/17/2022

Congress passed Roosevelt's New Deal legislation
On June 16, 1935, Congress passed President Roosevelt's "New Deal" legislation to start a recovery program from Great Depression.Learn more about FDR and the New Deal from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.

06/15/2022

Twelfth Amendment Ratified
On June 15, 1804 the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, creating separate votes in the electoral college for President and Vice-President. In prior elections, the country experienced problems with the original system in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution, failed to adequately segregate votes for President and Vice-President. This led to a tie in the 1800 election between Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates of the same party.

06/13/2022

US Supreme Court mandated "Miranda warnings"
On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court required that a suspect be warned of certain rights before police questioning.

03/18/2022

On March 18, 1963, unanimously decided Gideon v. Wainwright, one of the landmark cases of the modern era.

"If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court; and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look at the merits in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed. But Gideon did write that letter; the court did look into his case; he was re-tried with the help of competent defense counsel; found not guilty and released from prison after two years of punishment for a crime he did not commit. And the whole course of legal history has been changed."

-- Robert F. Kennedy

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