Meissner v. City of New York
- Naomi Buchwald
- 1:23-cv-01907
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Meissner v. City of New York, Judge Buchwald asked New York’s Attorney General whether it would intervene after plaintiffs raised a constitutional question.
The four plaintiffs, the City of New York and the other named defendants, and the New York Attorney General, who was asked whether it would intervene.
What happened
In Meissner v. City of New York, four plaintiffs sued the City of New York and other defendants. They later filed a notice stating that the case involved a constitutional question.
The court said it had not received proof that the notice was served or any response from the New York Attorney General. Because of the ongoing litigation over New York’s firearm regulations, the court requested that the Attorney General state whether it would intervene in the case.
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ordered the Clerk of Court to send the order to the Attorney General by certified mail and ordered the City to notify the Attorney General as well. The Attorney General was asked to respond within 30 days of the order’s filing. The order did not decide the underlying constitutional issues.
The detailed version
- Meissner v. City of New York · No. 1:23-cv-01907
- Naomi Buchwald
- Feb. 22, 2024
Background
Stuart Meissner, Jonathan Zeron, James Aleman, Jr., and Steven Silvestro filed this action against the City of New York, the New York City Police Department, Keechant Sewell, Nicole Berkovich, and the New York City Police Department License Division. On March 17, 2023, the plaintiffs filed a notice of constitutional question under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.1.
Court’s Action
The court stated that it had not received proof that the notice had been served or a response from the New York Attorney General. The court noted the amount of litigation concerning New York’s firearm-regulation system and requested that the Attorney General respond within 30 days of the order’s filing about whether it would exercise its right to intervene, meaning participate in the case.
The court directed the Clerk of Court to send the order to the New York Attorney General by certified mail with a return receipt requested. It also ordered the City of New York to provide notice of the order to the Attorney General.
Disposition
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald entered the order on February 22, 2024. The order addressed notice and possible intervention only; it did not decide the plaintiffs’ constitutional claims or otherwise resolve the merits of the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.