STRATAGEM
As reported by The New York Law Journal, in an email sent to the state’s judges yesterday Chief Judge Judith Kaye advised against any recriminatory behavior — such as judges recusing themselves from cases in which legislators or their firms appear — that might “hurt our cause” for a pay raise. The email was an addendum to a letter sent to Governor Patterson a day earlier reassuring him that rumors of a “judicial slowdown” were “without basis.” The email reads in part: “Our many friends and supporters tell us quite frankly that we reduce our effectiveness and weaken our cause when we publicly engage in conduct that is perceived as retaliatory, such as denigrating public officials and using recusal as a strategy rather than as a matter of individual conscience.” (Asked for his opinion, Justice Herbert Kramer, who heads the Brooklyn chapter of the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, said that judges may be trying “the best they can” to keep the courts running smoothly, but anyone who thinks that judges remain unscathed “consciously or subconsciously” by the nine-year pay raise quagmire, “is not being accurate.”) Meanwhile, about 80 judges convened during the lunch hour yesterday on the front steps of Brooklyn Supreme Court in a display of solidarity for a raise.

SILVER PLATTER 
On a related note, The Buffalo News reports on Erie County Supreme Court Justice John M. Curran’s efforts to remove Assembly Speaker Sheldon Speaker’s law firm from representing the County in a case against 77 drug companies seeking $150 million in damages for an alleged pattern of overbilling Medicaid patients. Curran, a vocal proponent of Kaye’s pay raise lawsuit who was appointed to the bench in 2004 by then-Governor Pataki, has sought advice from four “outside experts” as to whether Silver’s involvement in the case constitutes an ethical dilemma. Silver is one of the top defendants in Kaye’s suit, and Curren surmises his “purported political power” concerning judicial pay raises should disqualify him — and perhaps his firm — from appearing.  

THE "MORALLY BLAMEWORTHY COMPONENT" 
Newsday reports on a controversial 4-3 Court of Appeals decision that could have a wide-reaching impact for future vehicular homicide cases. The court threw out the criminally negligent homicide conviction against Brett Cabrera, who was 17 when he crashed an SUV on a summer outing, killing three friends. The court ruled there needed to be another “morally blameworthy component” besides speeding to sustain criminal negligence. “For a 17-year-old to badly misgauge his ability to handle road conditions is not the kind of seriously condemnatory behavior that the Legislature envisioned when it defined ‘criminal negligence,’ even though the consequences here were fatal,” wrote Judge Susan Read for the majority. “This crash resulted from noncriminal failure to perceive risk; it was not the result of criminal risk creation.”

A PREGNANT ISSUE 
And from The New York Times comes word that 54 more women have joined a class action lawsuit that accuses Bloomberg L.P., the financial services and media company founded by Mayor Bloomberg, of discriminating against pregnant employees. The original suit — which alleges female employees were demoted or had their pay cut after becoming pregnant and taking maternity leaves — was filed last September by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “What does this have to do with the budget? I have absolutely no idea,” said Bloomberg, after being asked about the suit during a press conference addressing the City budget. “You’ll have to ask the company, and next time don’t bother to ask us a question. Stick to the topic. Everybody else plays by the rules; you’ll just have to as well.”