ALBANY – A law student's involvement with drugs seemed to concern state Court of Appeals judges less than St. John's University's decision to rescind his admission to law school.

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman (See Profile) repeatedly sought answers from the attorneys in Matter of Powers v. St. John's University School of Law, 28, about the public policy concerns at risk in the school's 2010 decision to prohibit David Powers from attending the law school 1 1/2 years into his studies.

The school acted, it said in court papers, based on “material omissions and misrepresentations involving criminal charges that had been brought against [Powers]” on the St. John's application he filled out in 2005.