Letters to the Editor
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‘A Court Without Power’
Jacob Gershman’s suggestion that I agree that the governor and the legislature are immune from sanctions for having defied repeated court orders to provide billions of dollars in additional school funding to New York City is a misrepresentation of my position [“A Court Without Power,” Opinion, March 27, 2006].
There is no sound legal argument that can support such a claim of immunity. The notion that the courts are powerless to enforce their own orders contradicts over two centuries of judicial review and appropriate separation of powers understandings in New York and throughout the nation.
As the Court of Appeals itself said in its recent ruling in the longstanding school finance case brought by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, “it is the province of the Judicial branch to define, and safeguard rights provided by the New York State Constitution …”
The three judicial referees – two retired appeals court judges, and a former law school dean – who issued the compliance recommendations that were largely upheld by the appeals court last week specifically stated that “[t]he Court also clearly has the authority to enforce its orders through its contempt powers, and to impose sanctions for any such contempt, including fines.”
The sanctions available to the courts include not only heavy fines, but also terminating all school funding and imprisoning public officials.
I certainly hope that we can achieve compliance without resort to these drastic measures, but if necessary I am certain that the courts will uphold the constitutional rights of over one million school children – and the integrity of the judicial process itself – by taking whatever action may be necessary to stop the illegal and immoral defiance of the courts’ orders by the governor and other state officials.
MICHAEL A. REBELL
Counsel, The Campaign For Fiscal Equity Executive
Director, The Campaign For Educational Equity
Teachers College
Columbia University
Morningside Heights
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