Starting July 20, 2026, anyone walking into a New York State courthouse with smart glasses on (Meta’s Ray-Ban line or any similar device carrying a camera, microphone, or onboard processor) will need to hand them over to a court officer at the door before going any further. The directive comes from a July 1, 2026, Memorandum issued by the New York State Office of Court Administration, making New York the first state in the country to impose this kind of sweeping, systemwide restriction, reaching every level of the state’s court system.
The scope is intentionally wide. It reaches lawyers, parties to a case, witnesses, relatives sitting in the gallery, court staff, and ordinary visitors alike. Even smart glasses fitted with prescription lenses are banned. Anyone with prescription smart glasses should plan to carry a spare set of ordinary prescription glasses for the day.
Recent legislation signed into law by President Biden on September 16, 2022 abolishes the statute of limitations for over a dozen federal civil causes of action relating to child sex abuse, continuing the trend throughout the country to reform statutes of limitations relating to child sex abuse. Known as the “Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act of 2022” (Public Law No. 117-176), the Act abolishes the previous ten-year statute of limitations to commence a civil action for any person who, as a minor, was the victim of any of the offenses enumerated in the Act, including forced labor, sex trafficking of children, sexual abuse of a minor, sexual exploitation of children, and transportation of minors to engage in sexual conduct. The Act became effective on September 16, 2022.
On June 19, 2019, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed legislation that would, if signed into law, broaden the scope of last year’s ban on clauses requiring employees to arbitrate sexual harassment claims so as to prohibit such clauses with respect to all types of discrimination claims. As reported on this blog, this ban on mandatory arbitration clauses was deemed invalid, as contrary to federal law, by the June 26, 2019 decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Latif v. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, et al. (S.D.N.Y. No. 18-11528). It is too early ...
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