Hecker Fink Files Amicus Brief in NY Court of Appeals Defending New York’s Early Mail Voter Act

Last week, Hecker Fink LLP filed an amicus brief in the NY Court of Appeals on behalf of a group of legal scholars in support of the State of New York’s defense of its Early Mail Voter Act, a 2023 law which makes absentee voting available to all registered voters in New York. 

The brief urges the NY Court of Appeals to affirm the decisions of the trial and intermediate appellate courts upholding the constitutionality of the Act. The brief’s analysis seeks to bolster New York’s defense of the Act with an argument raised by neither party: namely, that the New York Constitution evinces a structural commitment to democracy—which Amici call the “democracy principle”—that requires interpreting the Constitution with a presumption in favor of democracy-expanding legislation. Properly applied here, the democracy principle requires finding the Act fully consistent with the text, history, and structure of the Constitution. 

The filing, which can be read in full here, reflects the firm’s commitment to upholding the rule of law and protecting fundamental tenets of our democracy. 

The Hecker Fink team includes Joshua Matz, Joseph Posimato, and Anna Collins Peterson. 

Amici are: Richard Briffault, the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at Columbia Law School; Jessica Bulman-Pozen, the Betts Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and a Director of the Law School’s Center for Constitutional Governance; Wilfred U. Codrington III, the Walter Floersheimer Professor of Constitutional Law at Cardozo Law School and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy; Nestor Davidson, the Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use and Property Law at Fordham Law School and Faculty Director of the Law School’s Urban Law Center; James A. Gardner, the Bridget and Thomas Black SUNY Distinguished Professor of Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law; and Michael Pollack, a Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy.