The minute entry from that proceeding provides, in relevant part, as follows:
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Kimba M. Wood: Status Conference held on 1/5/2012. Defendants will submit a limited motion to dismiss addressing only the issue of whether due process and equal protection analysis requires the Court to determine whether there was a rational basis for the law at issue only at the time it was passed, or whether the Court must determine whether there is a rational basis for the law at present (in other words, whether the Court should take into account a change in factual circumstances that makes the law no longer rational, even if it had a rational basis at the time of passage). Defendants' motion is due 1/27/12. Plaintiffs' reply is due 2/17/12.Defendants' response is due 3/2/12. (js) Modified on 1/9/2012 (tro). (Entered: 01/06/2012)Essentially, as predicted, the New York AG and New York County DA's offices will be submitting a motion to dismiss. Having said that, I was surprised that the motion is so limited.
Specifically, the minute entry focuses only on the due process claim and the equal protection claim, i.e. whether those claims survive rational basis analysis--the lowest level of scrutiny the Court will pass on the law. The Minute Entry makes no mention of the First Amendment claim. The narrow issue the parties will brief involves whether the Court should determine whether the law is rational now given the current state of the sport or if the court should focus on whether the law was rational as of 1997 when the ban was implemented.
I will continue to monitor.
Fight Lawyer
