Proponents of First Amendment Rights received some good news today from the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald, a senior United States federal judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judge Buchwald issued a Temporary Stay of Enforcement on New York City’s new requirement that Mohelim must tell parents contemplating Metzitza B’Peh that the procedure is dangerous and can lead to death. The Temporary Stay of Enforcement is valid until November 14th, the date of the next hearing.

The hearing was held in Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan.
Judge Buchwald was an appointee of President Clinton in 1999 and is a senior and experienced judge. She received her law degree from Colombia Law School in 1968.

The plaintiffs in this case are the CRC and Agudath Israel of America. They are represented by the Jones Day law firm, ranked as one of the top thirty law firms in the nation and has been in the lead position of these thirty seven times. Jones Day employs over 2400 lawyers and is an important voice in regard to First Amendment issues.

New York City claims that approximately 1 in 3500 times a child can be placed at risk for developing a Herpes infection. One very prominent expert in infectious diseases claims that this figure is grossly inaccurate and that there is no credible evidence at all which indicates that the child is placed at any risk. A third group claims that the risk level is at 1 in 13,000 from a statistical point of view.

(Yechiel Nagelberg – YWN)