Word: erdmann
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...Appellate Division, satisfying the technical requirement that the First Department, which lodged the complaint, would not also act as judge. The upshot is that justices of one department of the Appellate Division will be the complainant, while their colleagues from another department serve as judge and jury. Erdmann, of course, had spoken of all Appellate Division justices, not just those of the First Department...
Chilling Effect. The dubious affair came to light only when Erdmann's lawyer, William Leibovitz, together with the American Civil Liberties Union, went to federal district court to argue that the First Department's justices were violating Erdmann's civil rights. Federal Judge Sylvester J. Ryan said that the issue was out of his jurisdiction, and Erdmann has taken the case to the U.S. court of appeals...
Leibovitz contends in his brief that the incident already has had a "chilling effect" on other lawyers who might criticize the courts. Few attorneys, in fact, would comment publicly on the case, though some have filed affidavits in Erdmann's defense. They may disagree with his salty language, but they object strenuously to the notion that judicial robes entitle their wearers to sanctity...
...Harvard Law School professors, James Vorenberg and Alan Dershowitz, say in their affidavits that they are considering using Mills' article in their criminal law classes. If the case goes forward, Dershowitz contends, "it will significantly deter important scholarly and journalistic criticism of the judiciary by attorneys." Disciplining Erdmann, says Vorenberg, "would lead students and young lawyers to believe that it is dangerous to speak out on controversial issues...
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark contends that the Sixth Amendment guarantee of the right to counsel gives lawyers full freedom to criticize the judiciary; James Shellow of Milwaukee, secretary of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, asserts that the Erdmann affair "will further support those in the judiciary who feel that they are immune from criticism." Adds Robert H. Levy, a Legal Aid lawyer: "We all now feel forced to choose between abject silence and loss of our profession. One may, it appears, elect to exercise one's own right of free speech or forsake...