Joshua Z. Rokach, a graduate of Yale Law School and a retired energy lawyer, lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Joshua Z. Rokach
By Joshua Z. Rokach
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Community Why Isn’t Sheldon Silver In Prison?
In my August column, Why Sheldon Silver Is Headed To Prison, I stated offhandedly that “Silver will surrender in October.” Thanks to a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Sheldon Silver remains free on bail at least until December. The New York Times cast the turn of events as…
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Community Remembering The Positive Changes President Carter Made For Israel — And American Jews
September 17 marked the 40th anniversary of President Jimmy Carter’s singular achievement — the Camp David Accords. The Accords established the framework of the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty, which the parties signed six months later. In return for Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordering Israeli withdrawal — including settlements — from the entire Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian President…
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Community For Religious Speech, The Bus Stops Here
Last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion allowing the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority to reject religious advertising on its system. Civil libertarians should applaud the ruling. Over 40 years ago, public transportation systems opened subways and buses to commercial advertisements — painlessly, they thought, to hold down…
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Community Why Sheldon Silver Is Headed To Prison
On July 20, Judge Valerie E. Caproni of the United States District Court in Manhattan sentenced former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to seven years in prison on his conviction in a second trial for using his office to benefit himself. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had vacated Silver’s previous conviction….
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Community Justice Brandeis Was Right About Technology — 90 Years Before The Courts
Of the rulings that the Supreme Court handed down in its end-of-the-term rush, Carpenter v. United States (June 22, 2018) will prove to have the most far-reaching impact. The justices, by a 5-4 vote, held that the Constitution requires police to obtain a search warrant before gaining access to personal data that carriers collect from…
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Community Federal Law Can — And Should — Punish Hate Crimes
On July 5, James Alex Fields, Jr. pleaded not guilty to a 30-count federal indictment charging him with perpetrating the Charlottesville massacre. The first 17 counts charge Mr. Fields under section 1 of the federal hate crimes law, the Matthew Shepard and James Boyd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. The law punishes persons…
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Community The Supreme Court’s Baffling Decision On The Muslim Travel Ban
The day before Justice Anthony Kennedy retired, he joined a 5-4 Supreme Court majority in upholding President Trump’s (Muslim) travel ban. The executive order in question banned entry from six predominantly Muslim countries and added North Korea and Venezuela as window dressing. The Court found the ban supported by the record in the case and…
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Community Why U.S. Courts Can’t Rule On Halacha
On June 7, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston denied rehearing of a decision from a three-judge panel awarding Congregation Shearith Israel of Manhattan ownership of the crowns adorning the Torah scrolls in the ark of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. The lawyer for the losing side,…
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