Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

In the past several months New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman led a coalition of other attorneys generals to sue President Trump and his administration. From Violation of Title VII to protection of the Affordable Care Act, here is a summary of his lawsuits since June 2017.

October 17, 2017. NY A.G. Schneiderman, Fellow AGs File Suit Against U.S. Department Of Education To Protect Gainful Employment Rule

New York. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, part of a coalition of 18 Attorneys General, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos for refusing to enforce the Gainful Employment Rule, a federal regulation designed to protect students and taxpayers from predatory conduct at for-profit schools. The Department’s refusal to enforce the rule marks another targeted attempt to roll back critical Obama-era protections for student loan borrowers in New York and across the nation.

October 17, 2017. NY A.G. Schneiderman And Fellows AGs File Suit Against U.S. Department Of Homeland Security Over Immigration Records

New York. Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman joined a coalition of ten Attorneys General in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for failing to disclose records concerning the detention and deportation of immigrants. The suit follows a similar, unfulfilled request for information sent by the same Attorneys General in June 2017 to several law enforcement agencies.

October 16, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Files Brief Opposing Pres. Trump’s Transgender Military Ban

New York. The amicus brief, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that banning transgender individuals serving in the military is unconstitutional, against the interest of national security, and harmful to the transgender community at large. The case, Doe v. Trump, was brought by LGBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

October 13, 2017. NY A.G. Schneiderman Announces Multistate Lawsuit To Defend Health Care Subsidies

President Trump announced that his administration will cut off the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing reduction payments, which reduce co-payments, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income Americans. Under the Affordable Care Act, these payments are made monthly to insurance companies. Cutting off the subsidies would destabilize the healthcare market; New York insurance plans alone would take a hit of millions of dollars in money that had previously been budgeted, and insurance rates will rise for New Yorkers.

October 12, 2017. NY A.G. Schneiderman Leads SCOTUS Brief To Protect LGBTQ Workers From Discrimination

New York. The Attorneys General argue that their States have strong interests in protecting their citizens against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The lack of nationwide recognition that Title VII bars such discrimination blocks the full protection of LGBTQ workers – particularly given divisions between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (which takes the position that Title VII protects workers from sexual orientation) and the federal Department of Justice (which has taken the opposite position).

The brief was filed on National Coming Out Day, October 12th.

October 12, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Challenges President Trump’s Third Travel Ban

New York. NY A.G. Eric T. Schneiderman filed a motion for temporary restraining order (TRO) against implementation of President Donald Trump’s third travel ban and amended the original lawsuit to include legal challenges to the latest ban, along with fellow Attorneys General from Washington, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oregon. The challenge was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.The Attorneys General argue that the third travel ban does not remove the discriminatory taint of the first and second bans.

October 5, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Leads 14 AGs Pledging Lawsuit Against Trump EPA For Ignoring Key Clean Air Deadline

In August, Attorney General Schneiderman and a coalition of Attorneys General sued the EPA for illegally delaying the designations; the next day, the EPA reversed course and withdrew the delay. However, this week, the EPA missed the statutory deadline of October 1st for designation.

Reducing smog levels is vital to protecting millions of New Yorkers and other Americans from dangerous pollution. According to the American Lung Association, over 115 million Americans – including 6.7 million, or one in three, New Yorkers – breathe harmful levels of ozone, which often travels far distances from other states with less stringent clean air regulations. The designation of areas with unhealthy smog levels plays a key role under the Clean Air Act in addressing the pollutant’s severe harms to public health, triggering requirements for state-specific plans and deadlines to reduce pollution in the designated areas.

September 28, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Leads Coalition Of AGs In Challenging Legality Of Trump EPA’s Rollback Of Clean Water Protections

New York. NY A.G. Schneiderman, leading a coalition of nine Attorneys General, challenged the legality of a Trump Administration proposal to void the “Clean Water Rule” that defines “waters of the United States” under federal law. In comments addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), the coalition charges that the proposed repeal of the Clean Water Rule – a rule designed to ensure the nation’s lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands receive proper protection under the federal Clean Water Act – is “arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law.” The coalition also charges that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s involvement in the effort, after suing to negate the Clean Water Rule as Oklahoma Attorney General, is “illegal” and would render any repeal invalid.

September 26, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Leads AG Opposition To Trump Administration’s Rollback Of Overtime Pay Protections

New York. The Attorneys General submitted comments in response to U.S. Department of Labor’s Request for Information concerning the executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). By this action, the USDOL threatens to roll back the Obama administration’s rule set to go into effect last year that would have expanded overtime pay protections for workers by setting a salary floor below which the exemption from overtime laws cannot apply. Workers impacted include those subject to misclassification as executive employees, like first-line supervisors at fast-food stores, car washes, retail stores, and construction sites; administrative employees, such as clerical and office workers; and professional employees, such as medical and dental technicians, mid-level IT employees, and film and television production assistants.

As well, other briefs were filed;

September 25, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Leads SCOTUS Brief To Defend Voting Rights

September 6, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Files Lawsuit To Protect Dreamers And Preserve DACA

July 6, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman—Part Of Coalition Of 19 Attorneys General—Sues U.S. Department Of Education For Abandoning Critical Student Protections

June 20, 2017. A.G. Schneiderman Joins 14 AGs In Filing Intervention In Lawsuit Against EPA To Secure Reduction In Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Other Air Pollutants