The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic is featured in a recent Sierra Magazine article examining the successful effort to protect the 1011 2nd Avenue Forest, one of the last remaining waterfront forests in Troy, New York. In the case, the Clinic provided pro bono representation challenging the City of Troy’s environmental review and rezoning decisions, arguing that the City improperly issued a negative declaration under New York’s State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and failed to adequately assess potential environmental and cultural impacts of the proposed development. As Managing Attorney Todd Ommen notes in the piece, the case reflected the Clinic’s core mission: representing environmental groups in matters where legal advocacy can play a critical role in protecting the natural environment.
Pace Women’s Justice Center on Roe
Statement from Cindy Kanusher, Executive Director of the Pace Women’s Justice Center on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:
“It is with great sadness that we read today’s Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating a constitutional right for all Americans. Today, we are all faced with the new reality that our right to make appropriate health care and reproductive decisions has been severely curtailed and the federal protections we have enjoyed for three generations are gone.
“We take some comfort that here in New York, our state and local governments have acted to protect access to reproductive healthcare and our right to choose. Nevertheless, the ramifications of this Supreme Court decision will be dangerous and far-reaching. As the dissent in Dobbs notes, “[r]especting a woman as an autonomous being, and granting her full equality, meant giving her substantial choice over this most personal and most consequential of all life decisions.” Pace Women’s Justice Center has spent the past 30 years working to ensure that our clients can exercise their legal rights and have access to justice. It is now more important than ever that we continue to do so.”