A federal appeals court has cleared the way for a standing challenge against a group that won an injunction blocking a New York state law allowing for the pretrial confinement of dangerous sex offenders. In Mental Health Legal Services v. Schneiderman, 11-1539-cv, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the injunction issued in April by Southern District Judge Deborah Batts (See Profile) against portions of the state’s Mental Health Law Sections 10.06 (k)
Second Circuit Judges Guido Calabresi (See Profile), Jose Cabranes (See Profile) and Raymond Lohier remanded the case in light of the circuit’s April 8 decision in Disability Advocates v. New York Coalition for Quality Assisted Living, 10-235, when it upset a sweeping order by Eastern District Judge Nicholas Garaufis (See Profile) requiring the state to develop thousands of residences for mentally ill adults (NYLJ, April 9). The circuit said Disability Advocates lacked standing “because it failed to show its constituents possessed the ‘indicia of membership’ necessary for a non-membership organization to exercise associational standing.” Oral argument were heard on June 13.
