Quote of the day: A Supreme Court justice voices "outrage and despair" at government "inhumanity" (and no, it wasn't "Sweet Lips" Sammy Alito)

A couple of things you should know off the bat about the above head:

(1) Did you think I meant the U.S. Supreme Court? Oops, sorry, it's actually New York State Supreme Court. And despite the lofty-sounding name, New York's Supreme Court isn't a fancy high-level court at all. It isn't even "a" court. It's essentially the whole of the state's basic trial-level courts. But since supreme courts have "justices" rather than "judges," the judge in question, Louis B. York, is indeed a "justice."

(2) And you should know that, sadly but not terribly surprisingly, Justice York was expressing his "outrage and despair" over something that circumstances made him powerless to do anything about. However, I give him credit for expressing that outrage and despair. I'm sure he hoped his message might be heard.

I was aware that poor Marc La Cloche had died, undoubtedly from one of the columns written about him by the New York Times's curmudgeonly metro columnist, Clyde Haberman. Mr. Haberman, a liberal of a decidedly non-bleeding-heart bent, is one of the more thoughtful writers in the public prints.

I hadn't heard about Justice York's ruling, though. Here's how Mr. Haberman, in today's "NYC" column, "A Fresh Start Needs Hands Willing to Help," tells the story of Marc La Cloche:

"He appeared in this column more than once. Mr. La Cloche was a Bronx man who, during an 11-year stretch in New York prisons for first-degree robbery, learned to be a barber. He loved cutting hair. After he was freed in 2001, he sought the state license required to pursue his new craft.

"Time and again, the office of New York's secretary of state, Randy A. Daniels, made sure that he didn't succeed. His criminal past, state officials said, proved that he lacked the 'good moral character' to be a barber. Ultimately, Mr. La Cloche was beaten down. He died last October at 40, a lonely man not given a shot.

"In his attempt to get a license, he had taken Mr. Daniels to court. When Mr. La Cloche died, so did his case. Justice Louis B. York of State Supreme Court in Manhattan signed a formal dismissal order on June 1. But in his ruling the judge did not hide his 'outrage and despair' over what the state officials had done, over 'the inhumanity exhibited by human beings with power over one person without power.'"


For the record, Mr. Haberman resurrected Marc La Cloche's story in the course of telling the story of a former drug addict named Gregory Pereira and a number of other ex-inmates:

"All belonged to a program called College and Community Fellowship, created six years ago to help former inmates pursue college studies, in most cases while they also hold full-time jobs. More than 100 people have taken part so far. At some point along the way, all had been written off as hopeless lowlifes, even no-lifes. Now they are graduating from college, some with advanced degrees."

It's worth a read—you'll find the full text appended in a comment.