Robert S. Smith
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Robert Sherlock Smith is an Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.
Smith was born in New York City in 1944, and grew up in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He graduated from Stanford University and, in 1968 from Columbia Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review. From 1968 to 2003 he practiced law in New York City with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, taking a one-year leave of absence in 1980-81 to serve as Visiting Professor from Practice at Columbia Law School.
In private practice, Smith was best known for representing a shopping center in a case, Shad Alliance v. Smith Haven Mall, that established that the right of free speech does not apply in shopping centers; for representing United Airlines' pilots' union in its attempt to take over United Airlines; and for arguing two death penalty appeals before the United States Supreme Court.
On November 4, 2003 he was appointed by Governor George Pataki to the Court of Appeals. During his first year, he emerged as the court's most vigorous questioner from the bench. He wrote a plurality opinion in Pataki v. Silver, upholding the Governor's power over the state budget and a lucid dissent in People v. LaValle,[1] in which the majority ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional. On October 23, 2007, in People v. Taylor [2] he chose to side with the Majority in upholding People v. LaValle,[3] on the grounds of stare decisis.
On July 6, 2006, Smith wrote the main opinion in Hernandez v Robles [4], a 4-2 decision, declaring that same-sex marriage in New York was not constitutionally required, and was to be left to the legislature. Chief Judge Judith Kaye wrote the dissent.
