Judicial Reports: LexPress: Ramos Rebuffs

By Lily Henning
Posted 09-15-06

 
As judge Charles Ramos refuses to recuse in the most scrutinized excessive compensation case in the state, an Iraqi jurist gets cozy with Saddam Hussein in the most scrutinized war crimes trial in the world.

 

NO RECUSAL
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Charles Ramos won’t recuse in the Grasso case, the New York Law Journal reports. The judge rejected a request by New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso to reassign the excessive compensation case. (Ramos might be biased, said counsel, since he had applied for a seat on the Big Board. But in his decision yesterday the judge said he did so “long before” the Grasso case was filed.) Ramos also noted that the recusal request wasn’t filed until after some of his decisions went against the defendant. Better news yesterday though for Grasso’s camp from the First Department Appellate Division, which agreed that his trial should be stayed until his appeals are decided. (Among Grasso’s appeals is Ramos’s decision to hold a bench trial.)


SO HE WAS, WHAT, A PRIMA BALLERINA?
Jurist Abdullah al-Amiri told Saddam Hussein “you were not a dictator” during the trial of the ousted Iraqi leader. According to the New York Daily News, prosecutors are trying to prove Hussein’s involvement in genocide. The comment is drawing today almost as much fire as Pope Benedict’s controversial comments about Islam.

NO BOOK OF JUDGES
The policy arm of the Roman Catholic Church in New York sent out candidate questionnaires this year, but by what’s published on the group’s web site, apparently skipped judges. The answers to the survey are intended to guide voters in November. The New York State Catholic Conference mailed the 10-question survey to 400 candidates yesterday. Capitol Confidential on the Albany Times Union site writes about it here.

PRO FORMA
Eugene Pigott Jr. answered questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. According to the New York Law Journal, his confirmation to the state Court of Appeals is virtually assured...

 

Posted by Jason on September 15, 2006 10:33 AM to Judicial Reports