Haxhia v. Lee
- Kimba Wood
- 1:13-cv-01012
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Haxhia v. Lee, Judge Wood declined to advise Bledar Haxhia how to proceed because judges cannot give legal advice.
Bledar Haxhia’s request for guidance was not answered; the order does not state a ruling on the underlying case.
What happened
In Haxhia v. Lee, Bledar Haxhia sent the court a letter asking how to proceed in his case. The letter was written without a lawyer’s assistance.
The court explained that judges cannot give legal advice because they must remain impartial decisionmakers. It therefore declined to respond to the substance of Haxhia’s letter.
Judge Kimba M. Wood issued the order on July 15, 2020. The order did not provide the requested guidance or otherwise state a ruling on the underlying matter.
The detailed version
- Haxhia v. Lee · No. 1:13-cv-01012
- Kimba Wood
- July 15, 2020
Background
Bledar Haxhia, the petitioner, sent the court a letter dated June 24, 2020. The opinion states that he wrote the letter without the assistance of counsel. He asked the court for guidance about how to proceed in the case. The respondents are identified as William Lee, superintendent of Green Haven Correctional Facility, and Eric T. Schneiderman, New York State Attorney General.
Court’s analysis
The court stated that judges are forbidden to give anyone legal advice. It explained that requiring judges to advise people representing themselves would undermine the judges’ role as impartial decisionmakers.
Ruling
The court declined to respond to the substance of Haxhia’s letter. The order does not provide the requested guidance and does not state a ruling on the underlying matter. Kimba M. Wood, United States District Judge, signed the order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.