'God vs. The Gavel' writer hired to counsel Roosevelt
Borough authorizes spending $500 per hour on special legal services
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

Roosevelt

ROOSEVELT - Religious organizations and practices should always be subject to the rule of law, unless they can prove that exemption would cause no harm to others.

That's what attorney Marci A. Hamilton posits in her latest book titled "God vs. The Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law" (Cambridge 2005). Hamilton was retained last week by the borough of Roosevelt to represent it in legal matters regarding the local yeshiva.

During a special meeting of the Borough Council on Sept. 20, the governing body determined that the borough needs additional legal services and voted 5-1 to pass a resolution awarding a professional services contract to Hamilton. Councilwoman Pat Moser abstained from the vote.

According to the resolution, the governing body believes it would be in the borough's best interest to retain legal counsel familiar with the issues surrounding the local yeshiva. Yeshiva Me'on Hatorah is an Orthodox Jewish high school for boys that is operating out of the Homestead Lane synagogue, Congregation Anshei Roosevelt.

The yeshiva had sent Borough Attorney Ira Karasick a letter dated July 10 requesting that the Borough Council rezone certain property in town. The letter further stated that if the Borough Council did not adopt such rezoning that the alternative would be an ongoing process of hearings before local boards, followed by legal actions instituted in state or federal courts should the yeshiva be denied on the local level, according to the resolution.

Anticipating the need for special legal counsel in these matters, the governing body introduced a resolution authorizing an emergency appropriation for legal expenses in an amount of $10,000, as well as the resolution to hire Hamilton.

Hamilton, who holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, New York City, will charge the borough $500 per hour for legal services on an as-needed basis. The funds will come out of an initial retainer of $10,000, according to the resolution.

Although they have the same last name, the attorney and Borough Councilman Michael Hamilton are not related.

Marci Hamilton, who has been a professor at Cardozo since 1990, is an internationally recognized constitutional law scholar, specializing in church/state relations, federalism and representation, according to Cardozo's Web site.

She was lead counsel for the city of Boerne, Texas, in the landmark Supreme Court case City of Boerne v. Flores, which invalidated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and advises municipalities on constitutional issues related to the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). In addition, she is one of the leading voices in the U.S. on the responsibility of religious organizations to the public good, according to Yeshiva University's Web site.

Prior to passing the resolution to retain Hamilton, the governing body voted unanimously to pass the resolution that authorizes the special emergency appropriation to cover the cost of the extraordinary expense since insufficient legal funds exist in the borough's budget to cover the costs. According to a statement the borough issued regarding the emergency resolution, it did not anticipate expenditures of this magnitude at the time of the prepared 2006 budget.

The emergency appropriation shall be provided for in the 2007 budget by the inclusion of $10,000 outside the cap.

"We had a lot of legal representation of the Planning Board, and we anticipate more," Councilman Hamilton said.

Saying she hated to sound like the dissenting voice in the matter, Moser said, "The cost of this is going to be astounding.

"Taxes will go up next year - there is no doubt in my mind about that," she added. "The question is how high will they become."

She said people in town could "be hard-pressed" if the borough is not prudent.

Councilman Jeff Ellentuck said no one has yet determined that there would even be litigation.

"We are getting advice on how to proceed," he said. "It's not an issue of spend or don't spend money on a lawyer."

With regard to the attorney's credentials, Ellentuck said, "We're best off getting good advice. Otherwise, we're being penny-wise and pound-foolish."

Councilman Hamilton said the borough isn't spending money because it wants to.

"We want to protect the citizens adequately and hire people who are knowledgeable in this narrow field," he said.

Hamilton recalled having to sign a $20,000 voucher for one month of special counsel during the borough's fight against developer U.S. Home. At that time, he said, he thought about what the borough could use that money for, including a new bus for the seniors.

"We don't do this frivolously without thinking about those things," he said.

He added that in the matter with U.S. Home, the borough "didn't get anything it didn't want."

He said the borough would use the attorney's services judiciously.

"It's a good thing to have someone standing by should we need it," he said. "We owe that to all of the citizens in town."

Councilman Dan Hoffman said $500 per hour is not out of line for attorney costs.

Ellentuck said that as special counsel, the attorney would not be the borough's premier lawyer in the matter regarding the yeshiva.

"She will provide special advice to whomever's handling the matter," he said.