A Firestorm Will Come to the Court in 2024

As the final hours of 2023 draw to a close, and the nascent hours of 2024 begin to emerge, I sit down to write my final article of this year. I must say that 2023 has been a tremendous “awakening” for me. When I say “awakening,” I mean that in a practical more than a philosophical way. As awakenings go, this one was pretty darn rude.

In short, this year I suffered the most significant and unbelievable legal upset of my 25-year-career thus far, when the New York State Appellate Division overturned my “quarantine camp” lawsuit victory over Governor Kathy Hochul and her Department of Health on a fabricated TECHNICALITY! (For anyone unfamiliar with this case, it’s Borrello v. Hochul, and you can get details on the case and its history from my recent Substack article, here).

It was an absolutely atrocious ruling, and a blatant kick in the teeth to every New Yorker, no matter your political affiliation or beliefs. You can read my article announcing the court’s decision here. Of course I am working diligently on appealing that calamitous decision, and in fact, I stayed home this past week while my family went on Christmas vacation so that I could work on the appeal since I am up against a deadline.

After the court’s ruling in November, I had to dig very deep. To be frank, it was really a test of character. How that court could rule that way after seeing how much this lawsuit means to the people of New York, was unfathomable. Approximately 400 people showed up to the Appellate Division courthouse back in September to hear me argue the case against the Governor’s shameful appeal of our 2022 victory. Four hundred people! In real life, nobody shows up to court hearings. Ever. Maybe folks might attend a trial if it’s a hot topic in the news cycle. But oral arguments? Not even in the movies. And yet, 400 of you came, on a work day, in the middle of the week.

The courtroom was packed, the hallway was packed, the atrium was packed, and there were some supporters who didn’t even get into the courthouse and instead watched the arguments on their phones outside on the courthouse steps. At the end of my oral argument presentation, these concerned and engaged New Yorkers gave me a thunderous standing ovation that went on for several minutes!

If you watch the court’s video playback of the oral arguments, you can see at the end the judges ask the bailiff to get everyone to stop applauding so they could continue on with the rest of their docket. (You can watch oral arguments here. You can watch a video of the photo collage made by photographer Manny Vaucher here. And you can read about my first-hand account of that momentous day here).

So to see that court dodge a ruling on the merits of such a tremendously important case to the people of New York was nothing short of stunning. It jars your faith in our legal framework. However, as the wisest man I know often says to me, “Consider the use of adversity.” And so, I am doing just that!

Here is how… As I am appealing the Appellate Division’s erroneous decision, we now have the opportunity to make statewide, binding case law. That is indeed a positive thing. There are other silver linings that are beginning to shimmer from that horrendous court ruling as well:

• The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said, “The truth often evades being recognized due to its utter incredibility.” Put another way, when something is so horrendous, it is often cast aside as untrue. That truism has haunted my quarantine lawsuit since Day 1, and though it still dominates many people’s impression of this lawsuit, the number of people who cast it aside as untrue is now dropping significantly. For a long time, people would hear that I am entwined in a battle against the Governor of New York to stop her from being able to throw people into quarantine camps, and they would immediately shut down. I have had people I know for decades, friends, say to me, “Oh stop. You are totally exaggerating. The Governor would never do that.” My simple and most telling response, “Then why on earth is she fighting me tooth and nail for the past almost 2 years to try to keep that power?”
  • For the record, the Governor’s quarantine reg completely conflicts with our 70-year-old quarantine law which has many due process protections built into it. Note, Governors cannot make rules that conflict with laws. That is unconstitutional. Oh, and her reg/rule would allow the Department of Tyranny, I mean Health, to pull you out of your home, with the force of police, and put you into a facility of their choosing, for however long they want, without any procedure by which you could regain your freedom… and they don’t even have to prove you are sick! Here’s the trial court judge’s decision striking down the reg in 2022. The reg itself is at the end of the judge’s decision. I suggest you read it. And then share it.
• Because the Appellate Division threw the case out for supposed lack of standing, it shows that we are rock solid on our legal argument! The trial court judge struck down the Governor and her “Ministry of Tyranny’s” dystopian quarantine reg for its brazen unconstitutionality, and no judge has disagreed with that ruling. The 5-judge panel in the Appellate Division said not one syllable in their decision about the merits of the case. They totally skirted the issue and tossed us on standing (a procedural excuse – not the merits of our lawsuit).
• Because the Governor “won” this round, the lawsuit is getting some marginal attention in the media. Of course I’m censored like crazy on any and all social media, and no mainstream media outlets dare interview me for fear of hearing the truth about the totalitarians running New York, but there have been a few news reports on our case now, and that will only grow in 2024 as I appeal to the State’s highest court.
• People are angry about the court’s ruling, rightfully so, and that is spurring people into action! I have people reaching out to my office and offering to help any way they can, which is terrific. Some are organizing speaking events for me to come speak at to raise awareness, others are making donations on my website to the legal fund, etc. I have been handling this case pro bono for almost 2 years now, much to my financial detriment. Every hour I spend on this case is an hour I lose of working for a paying client. So donations are extremely important at this point for me to continue this battle.
• People are starting to realize that we cannot keep playing defense! If I have to keep bringing lawsuits against New York state to stop their unconstitutional insanity, then we are not going to get out of this mess. (FYI, I did file another case against the State in October for another violation of our Constitution. More on that another time). Lawsuits are powerful tools, but they won’t stop the tyranny. People are now understanding what I mean when I say that to truly make a change, we must change the “leadership” at the top. (Of course I use that word very, very loosely). Well, lucky for us, 2024 is an ELECTION YEAR, so we have the ability to wipe the slate clean and FIRE every single politician who is working against us.

To be clear, not only is 2024 a Presidential election year, it’s also a year we can replace members of Congress, some US Senators, and here in New York State every single member of the NYS Senate and Assembly is up for election!!! This is a powerful year for We the People. We need to get like-minded people to register to vote, and then VOTE in November!

If you make no other New Year’s resolution, make this one… that you will vote in the 2024 election, and you will get 10 people you know to vote.

Please keep this truism in the forefront of your mind throughout this entire year…

If you do not take an interest in the affairs of government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.

– Plato

For certain we need to change the politics of this State, and of our country. Let us do that now in 2024, before it is too late. These corrupt politicians are changing the soul of our country, and we cannot allow that to continue, for once it is changed too drastically, we may never get it back.

Republished from the author’s Substack