Legal links of Interest for the week ending October 5, 2012

A number of stories about the law and lawyers in the news this week:

Judge rejects birth mother & gives custody to partner: A Family Court judge has awarded full custody of a young child to her adopted mother, instead of her biological mom, in what is believed to be the first such New York state case involving a same sex couple. 

 Judge Rejects Binghamton’s Fracking Ban: Justice Lebous ruled that the city had failed to show that the moratorium was needed because the state has not decided whether to allow fracking. 

 Attorney General Too late for Prosecution in Securities Meltdown: While New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman alleges massive fraud in mortgage-backed securities in a lawsuit filed this week, he’s not criminally prosecuting anyone. 

Mootness Dooms Suit Against County Attorney: A civil action accusing Madison County's part-time county attorney of self-dealing has been dismissed because the attorney has paid back some of the money and there is little likelihood the situation will arise again.
Cornell Law School Aids Undocumented Students: Cornell Law School professors and students worked to assist undocumented youth applying for deferred action — a status that, if granted, may allow thousands of undocumented immigrants living in upstate New York to temporarily be protected from deportation.

 Knox Supreme Court Decision Strengthens Worker Rights: the Court ruled 7–2 in the plaintiffs’ favor, striking down the SEIU’s fundraising scheme and reaffirming the rights of public-sector employees to refrain from supporting union politics [and] Justice Samuel Alito authored an expansive five-member opinion that raises the possibility that the Court could require unions to receive affirmative consent from nonmember employees before spending their money on politics at some point in the future.