The Fox News network has never had much credibility. A blog statement from a Fox New legal analyst, Lis Wiehl, states that the New York Court of Appeals is the second highest court in New York State. One would expect better from a Harvard Law School educated law professor. Indeed, given that the post is in a blog, over which one assumes that the author has editorial control, rather than an article, where a less informed editor might insert an inaccurate correction, it is even worse.
The New York Court of Appeals is, of course, the highest court in the State of New York equivalent to the Supreme Court in most states, while the "Supreme Court" in New York State is the trial court of general jurisdiction, and the intermediate court of appeal in New York State is the "Supreme Court, Appellate Division" (with certain quirky exceptions).
A lay person usually wouldn't know this, but a legal analysy on TV news should. It is right in the Bluebook, the standard guide to legal citation in law review articles, that every law student involved in a law review, and every law professor, learns cold.
I think I learned this in my 1st week of Civil Procedure, 1st year of law school. You're certainly right about a lay person but anyone who's been to law school (much less Harvard) shouldn't be making that mistake.
ReplyDelete"A blog statement from a Fox New legal analyst, Lis Wiehl, that the New York Court of Appeals is the second highest court in New York State."
ReplyDeleteIn your rush to be snarky, you should at least use complete sentences. Otherwise your dramatic impact wanes.