Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has named Zachary Carter, a prominent former U.S. attorney, as the city's top legal officer.
Zachary Carter Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Carter, 63 years old, served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1993 to 1999, and is known for prosecuting the Abner Louima police brutality case, as well as organized crime figures and gang members.
Mr. de Blasio called Mr. Carter "one of the most accomplished attorneys not just in the city but in the nation" in a news conference Sunday near City Hall day.
"The first time I met with him, I was convinced on the spot," the mayor-elect said.
As corporation counsel, Mr. Carter will be responsible for carrying out Mr. de Blasio's legal policies and overseeing about 700 city attorneys. The work will include dropping the appeal of a ruling by a federal judge earlier this year that found the city's use of stop-and-frisk to be illegal, the mayor-elect said; Michael A. Cardozo, the corporation counsel under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had filed the appeal.

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Mr. de Blasio also said he expects Mr. Carter to be involved in the expansion of paid sick leave under his administration, and a settlement in the so-called Central Park Five case, in which five black and Latino teenagers were convicted in the 1989 rape and beating of a white woman who was jogging in Central Park. A judge overturned the convictions in 2002.
"We start with our values," Mr. de Blasio said. "We will drop the appeal on the stop-and-frisk case, because we think the judge was right about the reforms that we need to make. We will settle the Central Park Five case because a huge injustice was done."
Mr. Carter said he has "tried to use the law to level the playing field for those seeking equal access to justice and opportunity" throughout his career and is looking forward to his new role.
"Both of us believe that prosperity and access to opportunity should be broadly shared," he said, "and that we have failed as a society when we do not meet the needs of the least-advantaged among us."
Mr. Carter was the first black U.S. attorney for the Eastern District. He is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
Write to Mara Gay at mara.gay@wsj.com

He has read NY Const Art 1, Sec. 3 even if he prefers race to religious preference?
We will see? Remember the North Lawrence Branch of Nassau OTB?


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  1. OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES IN $2M - NY Daily News

    www.nydailynews.com/.../open-1st-palm-sunday-otb-rakes-2m-article-1.65...
    OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES IN $2M. By Jerry Bossert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Monday, April 14, 2003, 12:00 AM. Print · Print; Comment.

  2. OTB FACES HAND SLAP OVER PALM - NY Daily News

    www.nydailynews.com/archives/.../otb-faces-hand-slap-palm-article-1.6672...
    Apr 16, 2003 - By Jerry Bossert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ... Aqueduct was also closed on Palm Sunday, but OTB thrived on action from around the country.
     
     
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    Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

    Stop scratching on holidays
    Published: June 1, 2012


    Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
    New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
    “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
    Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
    “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
    OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
    One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
    Easy money.