Sol Wachtler

May 01, 2018 | New York Law Journal

George Washington had no use for political parties, and he feared foreign interference in our domestic affairs

By Sol Wachtler

4 minute read

March 05, 2018 | New York Law Journal

There are other matters concerning guns and their use which should be considered, but none are as basic as the need to ban the sale of automatic weapons. Congress can pass those laws without doing damage to the Second Amendment and save thousands of innocent lives.

By Sol Wachtler

5 minute read

November 17, 2017 | New York Law Journal

Sol Wachtler writes: There was a time when a judge of an appellate court could review the very case he presided over when he was a trial judge. The New York Court of Appeals allowed, even applauded, the practice, but thanks to a recent decision of that same court ('People v. Novak') that will no longer be tolerated.

By Sol Wachtler

11 minute read

October 25, 2017 | New York Law Journal

Today we take the First Amendment as prohibiting any law that abridges free speech or a free press, but did the drafters of the First Amendment really mean that the press was at liberty to insult and demean the president of the United States without penalty?

By Sol Wachtler

11 minute read

August 31, 2017 | New York Law Journal

I lived my youth in the rural south. I was educated at a Southern university where Robert E. Lee is entombed, located in a Virginia town where Stonewall Jackson is also buried and memorialized. Being a Jew, I witnessed and personally suffered the pain inflicted by anti-Semites. But we are a forgiving people. I hope Mayor de Blasio can find it in his heart to forgive the sins of some others whose "hateful" monuments his commission will consider removing.

By Sol Wachtler

11 minute read

July 05, 2017 | New York Law Journal

For most Americans, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day are times for expressing our national gratitude to those who fought and died for the preservation of our great nation. Unfortunately, in times past, we have been prone to treat our veterans like Rudyard Kipling's Tommy Atkins. When the war is over, the veteran is either ignored, forgotten, or even punished because of the effects of undiagnosed or untreated wounds of war.

By Sol Wachtler

8 minute read

May 19, 2017 | New York Law Journal

Sol Wachtler writes: President Trump, in his politicizing of religious practice in the name of "religious liberty," should heed the warnings of history. Our founders feared the tyranny and persecution which was always a part of government's imposition of religious obligation.

By Sol Wachtler

10 minute read

April 21, 2017 | New York Law Journal

In his latest book, Joel Cohen, who practices law at the venerable Stroock law firm, gives us an insight of just how tragically flawed our justice system is.

By Sol Wachtler

9 minute read