With respect to Zach White: I have been doing impact litigation for more than thirty years. The decision about whether to appeal a particular decision to the COurt of Appeals, and then the decision whether to seek cert, is a STRATEGIC decision. Sometimes, aggrieved as we may be about a bad decision, we decide that having an adverse decision from the Court of Appeals (or the Supreme Court) might be even worse, and that for a varietty of reasons, including the state of the record or the current composition of the next higher court, it might be better to refrain from presenting this particular case for review. Sometimes, indeed, we decide not to bring a case AT ALL for similar reasons. Sometimes, the best place for a fight is not the courts.
I don't comment here on whether the NYCLU's decision not to take an appeal from the particular decision White mentions was sound or uinsound, but the mere fact that they did not does not show that they are cowards, simply that they made a judgment on whose soundness White's comment sheds no light whatsoever,
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Begin forwarded message: From: Zach White