Robert S. Smith

Robert S. Smith
Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
Appointed by	George Pataki
Preceded by	Richard C. Wesley
Personal details
Born	August 31, 1944 (1944-08-31) (age 67) New York City, New York
Alma mater	Stanford University Columbia Law School

For other people named Robert Smith, see Robert Smith (disambiguation).

Robert Sherlock Smith (born August 31, 1944)^[1] is an Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, New York's highest court.

1 Early life and education
2 Legal career
3 Notable opinions
4 Personal
5 References
6 External links

Early life and education

Smith was born in New York City in 1944, and grew up in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He graduated from Stanford University in 1965 and from Columbia Law School in 1968, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review.

Legal career

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.

Notable opinions

He wrote a plurality opinion in Pataki v. Silver, upholding the Governor's power over the state budget.
He wrote a dissent in People v. LaValle,^[2] in which the majority ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional.
On July 6, 2006, Smith wrote the main opinion in Hernandez v. Robles,^[3] 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.
On October 23, 2007, in People v. Taylor,^[4] he chose to side with the majority in upholding People v. LaValle, ^[5] on the grounds of stare decisis.

Personal

Smith's son is journalist Ben Smith.^[2]

References

^ [1]
^ (6 October 2002). WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Liena Zagare, Benjamin Smith, The New York Times

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by Richard C. Wesley	Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals 2004–present	Incumbent

Current elected and appointed statewide political officials of New York

U.S. Senate	Chuck Schumer Kirsten Gillibrand

State government	Andrew Cuomo, Governor Robert Duffy, Lieutenant Governor Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General Thomas DiNapoli, Comptroller

Senate	Dean Skelos, Temporary President/Majority Leader John L. Sampson, Minority Leader

Assembly	Sheldon Silver, Speaker Ronald Canestrari, Majority Leader Brian Kolb, Minority Leader

Court of Appeals (appointed)	Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick Victoria Graffeo Susan Phillips Read Robert Smith Eugene Pigott, Jr. Theodore Jones

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Persondata
Name	Smith, Robert S
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 31, 1944
Place of birth	New York City, New York
Date of death
Place of death