Christopher Dunn

December 19, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes that the paucity of federal civil rights prosecutions against NYPD officers in part reflects the demanding legal standards governing such cases. Any consideration of a federal prosecution arising out of the shooting death of Sean Bell must start with an understanding of those standards.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

October 29, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes that though law-enforcement officials have used Tasers for over two decades, neither the Supreme Court nor the Second Circuit has ever addressed constitutional restrictions on the use of these weapons. A few other federal appeals courts, however, have considered this issue, and the recent tragic events involving the NYPD warrant an examination of their views of Tasers and the Constitution.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

April 28, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes: In the 1960s the U.S. Supreme Court adopted an expansive view of state action, opening the door to wide-ranging civil-rights litigation against private actors. Since then, however, the Court has substantially narrowed the situations in which actions by nongovernmental actors can be deemed to be state action. Two recent cases - one from the Eighth Circuit and one from the Southern District of New York - involving private actors, police officers, and the First Amendment demonstrate, however, an important approach to extending constitutional obligations to private actors.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

March 28, 2002 | New York Law Journal

L ast term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided an attorneys fees case important to lawyers involved in litigation brought under any of the myriad federal civil-rights and anti-discrimination statutes or under the United States Constitution.

By Christopher Dunn

12 minute read

June 24, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes that the Third Department held earlier this month held that the police can, without a warrant, surreptitiously use a GPS device to track a criminal suspect. In light of this decision, the New York Court of Appeals now may be called upon to consider the extent to which state constitutional guarantees may surpass the increasingly narrow protections of the Fourth Amendment and what protections New Yorkers can invoke in the face of a burgeoning surveillance society.

By Christopher Dunn

12 minute read

December 09, 2004 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes that the New York Court of Appeals this past summer blocked all executions under the current state law, and the governor and Legislature are now debating how or whether to "fix" the statute.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

February 27, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes that the recently released disclosures about the NYPD's stopping, questioning, and frisking of New Yorkers indicate that a majority of stops were based on a factor the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled cannot alone be the basis for a valid police stop.

By Christopher Dunn

10 minute read

December 22, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, writes that given the Bush administration's expansive view of executive authority when it comes to national-security threats in general and to warrantless surveillance in particular, the extraordinary exchange of letters last month between NYPD Commissioner Kelly and Attorney General Mukasey has an Alice-in-Wonderland quality. Beyond that, however, the exchange is troubling because of what it suggests about the NYPD's approach to the Constitution and about the agency's surveillance activities.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

October 26, 2010 | New York Law Journal

In his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, reviews a recent decision where the Second Circuit for the first time addressed the personal liability of officials sued for enforcing unrepealed, unconstitutional laws in a case that reveals the threat these dead statutes pose to constitutional rights.

By Christopher Dunn

11 minute read

February 03, 2011 | New York Law Journal

In his Civil Rights and Civil Liberties column, Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and an adjunct professor in the Civil Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law, discusses four four major civil rights and civil liberties issues the federal courts will have to grapple with in 2011: same-sex marriage, the health care law, gun-control laws and internet threats.

By Christopher Dunn

12 minute read