Raphael Weitzman v. Committee on Grievances for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

In the professional conduct review concerning Petitioner, Raphael Weitzman, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, without de novo review, the district court’s findings that were based on: (1) impermissible ex parte communications between the professional conduct review committee and its Counsel Investigator; (2) consideration of evidence and arguments outside the trial record; (3) restrictions on Petitioner's testimony to "yes" or "no" answers during the evidentiary hearing, coupled with a denial of his right to counsel and to confront witnesses/evidence; (4) a failure to properly consider mitigating factors and Petitioner's equitable defenses of laches, unclean hands and equitable estoppel; (5) an appearance of impropriety stemming from prior professional relationships between the Respondent’s chair, the Counsel Investigator, and a member of the Second Circuit panel; and (6) a violation of equal protection guarantees through discrimination based on Petitioner's religion and disparate treatment. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the lower Court violated attorney’s rights as to Due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments as affirmed by In re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. 544 (1968)?

2. Whether the lower Court violated attorney’s rights as to Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment?