Western and Central New York have many claims to fame, among them: world-famous wings, record-breaking snowfall, and heart-breaking near misses from our professional sports teams. Only slightly less well known is a local institution that has stood for nearly a century on the windy shores of Lake Erie, the Buffalo City Hall. The beautiful art deco structure is one of the largest municipal buildings in the United States and was completed in 1931, at a time of great change both locally and nationally. Buffalo’s population had quadrupled over the previous 50 years, and the building’s architect, John Wade, wanted to ensure that the structure would serve local citizens for many years to come. Knowing that he could not anticipate what further changes might lie ahead, Wade designed the building with room to grow, sinking a deeper than required foundation to support possible future vertical expansion.

Much like the architects and planners who designed the Buffalo City Hall intended for it to endure and adapt to the City’s needs, the framers of the U.S. Constitution made their blueprints for a new government with the hope that that their work would outlast them. However, the framers initially omitted several critical aspects that underpin that document as we currently know it, principles that I turn to on a daily basis to ensure that the litigants who come before our court are provided their full protections under the law and, conversely, that governmental actors do not unwittingly exceed the Constitutional limitations placed on their power.

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