Kentucky Supreme Court Avoids Ruling on Clash Between Free Speech and Anti-Discrimination Law in T-Shirt Case

In a case that drew 26 amicus briefs – an unusually high number for an argument in a Midwestern state high court, the Kentucky Supreme Court found an off-ramp from having to decide whether a small business that produces custom t-shirts has a right to refuse an order to print a shirt with whose message the business owner disagrees in Lexington-Fayetteville Urban County Human Rights Commission v. Hands on Originals, 2019 Ky. LEXIS 431, … <Read More>


Appellate Court of Illinois Recognizes Unjust Enrichment Cause of Action on Behalf Same-Sex Former Domestic Partner

The Appellate Court of Illinois ruled in Blumenthal v. Brewer, 2014 Il App (1st) 132250, 2014 Ill. App. LEXIS 904 (Dec. 19, 2014), that a state court judge who is the former same-sex partner of a physician can maintain a legal claim on the theory of unjust enrichment to seek compensation for her financial contributions towards the home they shared and the physician’s professional practice.  The court found that legislative and common … <Read More>


A Brief Remembrance of Steven W. Siegel

This morning I attended the funeral service for Steven W. Siegel, a friend of more than thirty years whose premature death at 65 is much to be deplored.  Although I thought the remembrances spoken at the service evoked this wonderful man very well, I wanted to add a few comments to help memorialize him in cyberspace.

When I first met Steve after joining Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (as it was then named), NYC's gay synagogue, in … <Read More>


A Suggested Paradigm Shift in the Health Care Debate

The current issue (cover date June 9, 2011) of The New Republic includes one of the most important pieces I've read about the issue of health care reform.  It is by Daniel Callahan (President Emeritus of the Hastings Center) and Sherwin Nuland (Retired Clinical Professor of Surgery from Yale University), and is titled "The Quagmire."   Callahan and Nuland succinctly and effectively make the argument that a basic reorientation of philosophy is necessary for U.S. health … <Read More>