21st Annual Leon D. Lazer Supreme Court Review

Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center proudly presents the Twenty-First Annual Leon D. Lazer Supreme Court Review: October 2008 Term Ending June 2009, held at Touro Law Center on Friday, October 30, 2009, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Justice Souter’s last term, after 19 years on the Supreme Court, was marked by numerous significant decisions, one of which – the New Haven Firefighters case – became a focal point for Senate interrogation of Justice Souter’s appointed replacement, Sonia Sotomayor. The Court also avoided a widely expected confrontation with the constitutionality of a key aspect of the Voting Rights Act, with a narrow decision leaving the issue for another day.

The Court rendered many significant decisions pertaining to civil rights litigation, including decisions expanding prosecutorial immunity, modifying qualified immunity procedure, severely limiting claims against prosecutorial supervisory officials, rejecting a right to post-conviction DNA testing, but allowing state court § 1983 suits against corrections officers. The Court found that the strip search of a middle school student violated the Fourth Amendment, but that the school officials were protected by qualified immunity. The court rendered other important decisions under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

There was a major decision holding that the Confrontation Clause requires prosecutors who introduce laboratory reports to produce the analyst for cross-examination. The Court also decided important Fourth Amendment issues pertaining to vehicle stops and searches, and the exclusionary rule, and imposed restrictions on the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

In the business area, the Court decided significant cases concerning federal preemption of state law, and the due process right of recusal of a state judge who accepted unusually large campaign contributions.

These and other decisions will be discussed and analyzed by a highly accomplished faculty of federal court judges, a law school dean and preeminent constitutional and civil rights scholars. This highly successful program is now in its 21st year.

Anyone interested in the work of the United States Supreme Court will find the program informative, interesting and intellectually stimulating. Cost of the program is $100 per person, including materials, light breakfast, lunch and six hours of CLE Professional Practice credit.

Please click here to register online. For more information, contact Barbara Hakimi, CLE Coordinator, at (631) 761-7005.