Mayor Mamdani appoints trans woman to run first-ever NYC Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs

We are amidst a time of attack, from the executive department of the U.S. on down, against trans people. 

The Supreme Court has (except in the Bostock case) looked on and said, "You go!" though a few justices would say, "Go faster!" It is not all dark. But it is quite scary for many.

Mayor Mamdani was a strong ally during his campaign. Trans people now, even though it has been less than three months, are impatient for action. 

Some, including those noting they are part of the community (one on Bluesky said they had a trans child), are willing to optimistically give him a chance. Others are more pessimistic and/or cynical.

Given the stakes and situation, that's understandable.  Again, there is no single reaction here. We need to generally practice human empathy and discernment. 

The establishment of the office comes at an uncertain time for access to gender-affirming care for trans youth in New York — a city that also functions as a sanctuary destination for families elsewhere in the U.S. seeking such care. In February, NYU Langone, one of the foremost providers of gender-affirming care in the city, announced that it would cease the provision of such care to minors, citing the “current regulatory environment.” 

NY Attorney General Letitia James demanded that the hospital resume, with a deadline that just passed, because of state human rights law. We shall see. 

The move, a form of obedience in advance, by NYU Langone, shows some of the results of the human rights violations of the Trump Administration, which is a disgrace to this nation every second they (illegally) continue their injustices. 

We need more anger and passion about how horrible things are. One day, we will have to reconstruct our nation. The will to do so has to come with an understanding of the stakes. The harm to trans people is just one of so many examples of what we have to address. It is taken to such cruel levels. 

My "impatient" link shows that there are means for the city government to address the situation. Erin Reed and other trans advocates want to know what the mayor is going to do. 

The establishment of the first Mayor’s Office for LGBTQIA+ affairs and the appointment of the first out trans person to lead a New York City office as director provide a key avenue to address such things. 

A question posed at the announcement addressed the hospital issue:

Question: I'm curious how you see the city's role, potentially this office's role, in responding to actions like NYU Langone and other health institutions moving to end gender-affirming care. And I'm wondering if the city has a role in responding to that, and if you've talked about that at all in discussions with President Trump. 

Mayor Mamdani: I think the city has a role in standing up for the rights of New Yorkers and ensuring the compliance with the law. And that is regardless of who impedes upon it. And I made very clear my opposition to the decisions made by NYU Langone. I will continue to make that clear as the mayor of our city. And I am frankly looking forward to working with our new director on seeing the many ways our city can stand up for queer and trans New Yorkers.  

That's nice, though it is nothing specific. Such replies warrant follow-up. It annoys me when none come. 

The new office, specifically, would be the direct avenue to address it. The leader sounds like a great choice:

Taylor Brown — who is currently working in the state Attorney General’s office in its civil rights bureau, and assisted in a lawsuit launched against Nassau County and its ban on transgender women and girls from playing sports in county facilities — will head the new office. She will be the highest-ranking trans person in New York City government.

Brown also worked for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union, where she was a part of the legal team behind a landmark lawsuit for trans people looking to amend birth certificates in West Virginia.

Change must come from below before it reaches the top. This office is what people voted for. What I voted for. 

As Out Magazine noted:

The historic move not only marks an institutional shift for the city but also highlights Mamdani's commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. This draws a stark contrast with other Democrats at a time when the Democratic Party is being urged to "do more" for queer people.

Good luck and godspeed. 

SCOTUS Watch

Order List

There was a seven-page Order List on Monday. The Court granted one case for review. SCOTUSBlog:

In Prutehi Guahan, the justices will weigh in on a dispute that arises from the U.S. Air Force’s disposal of unexploded ordnance, which it burns or blows up, on a base in Guam. 

So notable concern, but based on technical issues:

Four years ago, Prutehi Guahan, an environmental group, went to federal court to challenge the Air Force’s then-pending application to renew its permit, granted to it by Guam’s Environmental Protection Agency under a federal law called the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, for its disposal of ordnance. The group contended that before the Air Force submitted its application, it should have prepared an environmental impact statement, as required by a different federal law, the National Environmental Policy Act.

Kavanaugh didn't take part in deciding a case without saying why. Jackson dissented from a refusal to a motion based on an alleged abuse of the in forma pauperis policy, following her recent practice of doing so for incarcerated persons. 

Gorsuch dissents from a denial of cert. As Mark Joseph Stern (Slate) summarizes on Bluesky (noting his position received four votes in the past):

Gorsuch dissents from the Supreme Court's refusal to consider whether a judge (not a jury) can extend a person's prison sentence by finding, by a preponderance of evidence (not beyond a reasonable doubt), that he violated supervised release.

Charles Burton Doesn't Die

Charles Burton has been in prison for over thirty years for his involvement in a robbery/homicide. Burton is in his mid-70s and in a wheelchair. A final SCOTUS appeal (involving procedural issues) was pending. 

“I firmly believe that the death penalty is just punishment for society’s most heinous offenders, as shown by the 25 executions I have presided over as governor,” Ivey said in a statement on Tuesday. “In order to ensure the continued viability of the death penalty, however, I also believe that a government’s most consequential action must be administered fairly and proportionately.

Alabama's strongly conservative governor commuted his sentence to life. That's the right move, except that he should really be paroled. He is ailing and was not directly involved in the actual killing. He has already served more than enough for his crime. 

Burton wasn't even there when it happened. It was a particularly poor usage of the "felony murder rule."  I appreciate her principled pro-capital punishment statement. Yes, I can grant that.

Alabama has not had a great run in recent years executing people, especially respecting the procedure, which led them to shift to nitrogen gas. Give credit where it's due and all that, all the same. 

The victim's daughter opposed the execution. That happens, though some seem to think honoring the victims is a one-way ratchet. Still, executions are in the name of the public, not private parties. 

The actual killer was sentenced to death. His sentence was overturned on appeal. The government eventually sentenced him to LWOP. He died in prison.  

Burton's lawyers removed their final appeal as moot.

Cedric Ricks Execution

Cedric Ricks was sentenced to death for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez [girlfriend] and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in Bedford, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was injured during the attack.

His attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing that prosecutors violated Ricks’ constitutional rights by eliminating potential jurors on the basis of race. 

Previous appeals by Ricks that alleged ineffective counsel and called for the suppression of evidence in the case have been denied.

A horrible domestic violence crime like this warrants serious punishment. It is not, in my view, the "worst of the worst" type murder that warrants the death penalty.

(Texas has executed a handful of people annually in recent years. It is a form of lottery to execute him.) 

One more death will not stop the cycle of violence involved. I don't know if the due process concerns flagged tainted the conviction. 

They probably are not "cert worthy" since they are most likely singular, not the special class warranting SCOTUS review. The justices should still not have denied without comment. 

Justice Joe would provide a brief statement explaining my denial, noting that the taking of a life (especially given my overall constitutional concern about the death penalty) warrants a special exception to the usual "no comment" cert denial policy. 

He was executed, providing an apology in his final statement. Media coverage continues to provide the public with information about such final moments. 

The almost thirteen-year lag time would have been notable back in the day. It's relatively quick, FWIW, as things go now. COVID probably helped add a few more years that might not have been there otherwise. 

Upcoming 

I noticed that a media advisory I missed flagged that there will be limited seating for the upcoming birthright citizenship oral argument. 

There is an execution scheduled on the 17th. There might be a final order to dispose of like the ones above.

The next scheduled thing is a special event honoring Justice O'Connor (next Thursday) with a livestream. Various Trump officials will take part. 

The justices will officially return next Friday. They probably (there is a notice they "may") will hand down one or more opinions. They will also have a conference to consider pending matters. 

Other News 

Oyez did not have last term's opinion announcements. 

The delay led Fix the Court to reach out and obtain them (in a raw form that is harder to access and contains other audio mixed in). 

Oyez now has (some) of the opinion announcements up. They are easier to access, but not complete yet. 

Senator Tuberville's Bigotry

On X, Tuberville reposted an image of Mamdani next to a photo of the deadly 9/11 terror attacks in New York City along with the words "the enemy is inside the gates."

Definitely one of the top idiots in the Senate. Largely crickets from Republicans. Not the only example of anti-Muslim bigotry. 

Some Books

I have had mixed experiences with books recently. I have had better luck lately. A variety of books with different subject matters are worth noting. 

Walter Isaacson’s new book, “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written,” takes as its focal point the document’s second line: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

An apt entry for the 250th anniversary of our independence. The book is tiny -- it is around sixty-four pages -- and half of it isn't even directly about the sentence. He includes an essay about the importance of supporting the common good. He also includes multiple documents, including a first draft.

I also liked Edward Larson's, best known for his book on the Scopes Trial, book on 1776 overall. 

I found this author because she has a new book. This is an older one that was at the library. The "Jenna" book club references Bush43's daughter. 

It covers the life of its character from 7-18 (for whatever reason, the plot ends about a decade before the book was published) or thereabouts. It is not a young adult book, but it reads like one. It is in her voice. 

Her father is unreliable, her mother is trying to survive with two children from different fathers, and Sam likes to climb. We get some plot from when she is younger, but a chunk takes place when she is around 15-18. 

I liked it overall, though it probably went too long. 

I found a picture of this book and the next one, which were read over fifteen years ago. I listened to this one (don't recall doing so) while reading it this time. 

I did listen to The Devil in the Junior League, which is a summer read that I put on the side panel (btw, one image appears to not show up on some browsers). A good performance -- appropriate Southern accent (though one person said it wasn't Texan ... I didn't notice the difference -- IITW took place in Texas btw) with a nice sound effect simulating phone calls and use of a microphone. Got a kick out of it -- sometimes, it doesn't take much to amuse me.

The author had a bunch of romance novels. This one was inspired by her own life (she moved to NYC from Texas). It was a fun story of a twenty-something whose comfortable life falls to the wayside, but she manages to find a way. 

One thing that originally attracted me to the book was that I watched a LGBTQ film (It's In the Water) that took place in a similar milieu. That is, a junior leaguer stepped outside of her comfort zone, this time accepting her lesbianism. 

Blechman’s forte clearly is in his character studies of these and other pigeon enthusiasts. His account of the historical pigeon, on the other hand, is a bit mottled by his lack of footnotes or bibliography. One can neither check up on details nor expand one’s knowledge. The engaged reader, of course, wants to do both.

The book covers various subjects (including Darwin, beauty contests, food, and target practice) but emphasizes pigeon racing. It is well written. Pigeon enthusiasts might want a bit more about the birds themselves. 

The bird racing was familiar. My dad raced birds. He fit the m.o., coming from a working-class ethnic background. We had a coop on the roof. 

He had one of those clocks that were used to track when birds arrived. I'm not sure how he started. For whatever reason, he eventually stopped. 

Midaq Alley (Arabic: زقاق المدق, romanized: Zuqāq al-Midaqq) is a 1947 novel by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, first published in English in 1966. The story is about Midaq Alley in Khan el-Khalili, a teeming back street in Cairo which is presented as a microcosm of the world.

I found out about this book because it was adapted into a film (taking place in Mexico). The book is a tad risqué (involving homosexuality, prostitution, and other mature topics) with various human dramas taking place. Good translation. 

Mahfouz was a leading Egyptian novelist who repeatedly used "alleys" in his works. I don't read much fiction, especially "classic" novels. Overall, I enjoyed it, though now and then the exposition went on a bit too long. 

I never saw the film. 

Ted Danson, during his appearance on Stephen Colbert, recently referenced that he has a podcast. There are lots of podcasts out there. 

I checked it out. He has some interesting interviews. 

I listen to a few podcasts. I often get bored with podcasts. Strict Scrutiny Podcast, concerning the Supreme Court, which is a prime interest of mine, often goes too long. 

But I listened to both parts (about two hours total) of the interview he had with his wife. They met while doing a film together. They acknowledged the film didn't do well. 

The marriage did. It has been around thirty years. 

SCOTUS Watch

Order List

Sotomayor (with Jackson) dissented from a denial regarding a case about prisoners having the right to split a filing fee. Kagan would have taken the case but did not join. Takes four to grant cert. 

We then went into an oral argument involving guns and drugs. Eric Segall has a good commentary. And then the long oral argument was done. 

But not the news for the day. 

"Emergency" Docket

Steve Vladeck and Chris Geidner discussed two irregular decisions involving a New York City redistricting matter and requiring a school to tell parents their children were using alternative pronouns and so forth. They are the usual 6-3 jobs with Sotomayor and Kagan handling dissents. 

Rick Hasen briefly raises red flags about the New York case. The problem there is procedural. Only Alito writes for the conservatives. But he might have an opinion for the Court in an election case soon. That one will matter. 

The case page provides the state brief in the trans case, which details various complexities that some skip over since they think the policy is wrong. Erin Reed puts things into a wider context. She covers trans issues. And the SCOTUS conservatives have, over and over again, shown disdain for trans rights. 

(The exception being the Bostock case, a statutory interpretation case that is an asterisk without more.) 

Overall, Kagan is correct. First, they should have taken it for full review. Second, they are hypocrites regarding substantive due process, including not taking a case where trans parents raised such claims in support of their children's transitioning. 

Vladeck flags that the majority -- unsigned though Barrett with Roberts and Kavanaugh concur separately, with a few comments about Dobbs, the abortion case -- rushes through the balancing required in granting the request. 

Okay, they did it, as he says, but they did it slipshod, including not being concerned about the interests of the students. For instance, even if you think the parents have a good case, the district court's order appears to be too broad. 

Ideally, parents, children, and schools should be on the same page. But things are not always ideal. Forced outing, against the will of the children, is bad too. 

A 6-3 "emergency" docket opinion is not the way to handle this situation. But, as Vladeck says, the conservatives are (selectively) impatient. 

Billy Leon Kearse Execution

Florida, after SCOTUS dropped a no comment order, executed another person on Tuesday.

Kearse murdered a police officer about thirty-five years ago. Murdering a police officer is one of those narrow classes of cases of particular heinousness. But it was 35 years ago. Too long.

And, even there, only a narrow majority below rejected claims that a death sentence was improper. He was 18 and had serious intellectual disability claims. 

The final appeal raised procedural arguments, including those involving the disability, which were probably rightly rejected in this posture. Still, even here, I wish they would briefly explain the ruling.

I continue to find these executions gratuitous and otherwise problematic without being APPALLED each and every time. 

Opinions

Wednesday was a scheduled opinion day, though the two unscheduled rulings took some attention off that. Regularly, SCOTUS does things off schedule.

Jackson (standard used in an immigration case) and Sotomayor (NJ Transit Corporation is not an arm of New Jersey, so no sovereign immunity) with unanimous opinions. SCOTUSblog had a live blog.

Upcoming

Another Order List is scheduled for Monday. There will be a two-week break before more oral arguments. 

No opinion days are scheduled, but as we have seen, unexpected news might arise at any time. For instance, two years ago, the Supreme Court announced over the weekend that there would be an opinion dropped, without them showing up (cowards). 

The Supreme Court does not usually announce news on the weekend. But this was a special case. It was the Trump v. Anderson opinion keeping him on the ballot. 

War With Iran

Dorf on Law has two good entries on how the war (sic) with Iran is illegal. I have my upfront .02. Stephen Colbert was great last night, too, covering it, both his monologue and first guest.

SCOTUS: More Opinions

Opinions

Two opinions dropped on Tuesday. 

[1]

Sotomayor handled a civil procedure case relatively quickly. It involved a dispute about allegedly tainted baby food. Thomas added a concurrence to flag yet another issue he is concerned about. 

[2]

Thomas had the majority in the second case regarding the limits of sovereign immunity in a case alleging race discrimination by the post office. 

Sotomayor, for the liberals, and Gorsuch (a limit on federal agencies of any type is his thing) dissented. She felt the woman had a right to sue. 

The facts make this a sympathetic case. The split shows the limits of textualism. On that general subject, Eric Segall has a good blog post. 

Congress can pass a new statute to clarify matters. This is often the case. Many cases involve statutory matters for which the legislature can tweak things. Congress might fail to do this (see tariffs), and in response, the courts increase in power.  

[3]

Kagan and Jackson wrote the Wednesday opinions. So, readers can expect things to go pretty well. Each was unanimous in result, with a few conservatives adding comments. A brief summary below.

Justice Jackson affirms the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on the scope of the right to counsel during breaks in trials. Accepts some limits on counsel engaging with the defendant (as a witness), adding some clarifying details about the rules.  

[4]

Kagan has an opinion on whether a government contractor can immediately appeal an order rejecting its claim to sovereign immunity derived from its work for the government. They can't.

One of the many technical cases they take. Kagan often can write these opinions in at least a halfway understandable way.  

The case also has a topical connection. Appeals take a long time. The facts are now around ten years old. They involve facts alleging a contractor's work policies for detainees violate a federal bar on forced labor and Colorado’s prohibition on unjust enrichment.

Melvin Trotter Execution 

A crack addict named Melvin Trotter fatally stabbed 70-year-old Virgie Langford in the corner grocery store she ran for 50 years. Trotter has been on death row for nearly 40 years for the murder.

Colorful summary. His lawyers argued that the claim of "premeditation" is dubious when he seized a knife at the scene. That is a big reason why he got the death penalty. Even bad crimes might not warrant it. 

An organization against the death penalty argued:

Melvin’s death sentence was handed down by a non-unanimous jury on two separate occasions. Florida is one of the only states that allows a death sentence to be given without the full confidence of the jury, making it widely recognized as unreliable. Melvin’s life was shaped by severe trauma, instability, and intellectual limitations that were never meaningfully addressed in court.

The final appeal alleged problems with the Florida execution protocol. Sotomayor (for herself) dropped a statement "to express concern about Florida’s implementation of its execution protocol and the secrecy surrounding it." 

Sotomayor has been the justice most concerned about lethal injection protocols. She noted the claim alleged flagged problems like "incorrect drug doses, the use of nonprotocol drugs, and recordkeeping lapses that could mask yet additional failing."

She joined the "no comment" denial because there wasn't (in her view) enough evidence in this case. It is rare to see any discussion in these final appeals. 

I continue, like apparently no justice is left on the Court, to find it problematic to only execute someone decades after the conviction. Forty years on death row is punishment enough.

Florida executed him a few hours later. 

Opinion Announcements

We also have good news: Fix the Court managed to access last term's opinion announcements. They are (for now) in a harder-to-access form, but the effort is appreciated. It would be simpler if SCOTUS posted it themselves. They think it is worthwhile to have them.

Upcoming

More orders and oral arguments next week/month.

ETA: There will also probably be one or more opinions dropping on Wednesday. Also, Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSblog, was convicted.