Sunday, April 24, 2016

NYCOA Judge Pigott: Majority Opinion Patterns (presentation)

By Corey Carmello
Corey Carmello is a second-year student at Albany Law School. He graduated summa cum laude from the University at Albany in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Since starting law school, Corey has interned with Judge Lawrence E. Kahn, of the Northern District of New York; the Albany County District Attorney’s Office; and the Appeals and Opinions Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. He is also a member of the Albany Law Review. Corey will be working as a summer associate for Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy this summer, and hopes to work there as an associate upon graduation.
This presentation was prepared for Professor Bonventre’s Court of Appeals Intensive Seminar.

This presentation is the result of research conducted on the past 10 majority opinions—i.e., in non-unanimous cases--written by Judge Eugene Pigott of the New York Court of Appeals. A pattern of deference to the trial court and to the legislature, and a general pattern of being pro-prosecution was apparent from this research.

(click on any slide to enlarge)