Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Elizabeth Forspan | President of The Brandeis Association Calls out Mamdani Over Judicial Advisory Committee

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Elizabeth Forspan | President of The Brandeis Association Calls out Mamdani Over Judicial Advisory Committee · Sid & Friends In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: She is making her debut on SID and Friends in
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  Speaker 1: the morning. Elizabeth Horsman, Liz, good morning, how are you.
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  Speaker 2: Hey said, good morning. I'm a longtime listener, and that's
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  Speaker 2: anonaor to be here.
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  Speaker 3: It's an honor to have you too. Thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: So I see this letter it was sent to me
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  Speaker 1: that I guess you guys wrote to Mayor Mam Donnie
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  Speaker 1: at Reid's. We write as a coalition of New York
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  Speaker 1: City's Jewish bar associations. We are attorneys and judges who
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  Speaker 1: serve this city with an unwavering commitment to justice, the
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  Speaker 1: rule of law, and the safety of all New Yorkers.
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  Speaker 1: Your recent announcement of appointees to the Mayor's Advisory Committee
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  Speaker 1: on the Judiciary has left us deeply disappointed. Not a
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  Speaker 1: single Jewish attorney, former judge, or legal professional was appointed
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  Speaker 1: to a committee your administration described as one that would
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  Speaker 1: be quote truly reflective of New York City. So once again,
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  Speaker 1: this lying, thieving, anti Semite Mayer, who claims he cares
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  Speaker 1: about everybody Jewish people as much as anybody has shut
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  Speaker 1: out the Jews, isn't that right?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it seems like it. I mean, we have this committee,
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  Speaker 2: the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. Right, we know,
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  Speaker 2: mayors appoint judges the criminal court, family court, I mean
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  Speaker 2: the mayor of New York. It's a powerful position. And
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  Speaker 2: every mayor since Mayor Coach has had this committee that
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  Speaker 2: recommends and evaluates judges for the criminal courts and the
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  Speaker 2: family courts, which we have vacancies on. And you know
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  Speaker 2: they list the mayors always listen to the chief Judge,
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  Speaker 2: they listen to other judges, they take their recommendations. And
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  Speaker 2: here we have the committee. It's got eighteen members plus
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  Speaker 2: the chair. Not a single Jew. Wow, not a single Jew.
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  Speaker 1: Eighteen members eighteen that's funny, Hi and the chair right
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  Speaker 1: that significance, are not a single Jew. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: my wife, my beautiful wife, practice is both criminal and
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  Speaker 1: matrimonial law. So I know about a lot of this stuff.
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  Speaker 1: And I know a lot of the judges too, wonderful people,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of Jewish people. But in this case, I
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  Speaker 1: think we're talking specifically about a judge that I know
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  Speaker 1: everybody loves, and he's not even Maga like me. He's
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  Speaker 1: not a big Trump guy. And that's Judge Leventhal. What's
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  Speaker 1: the issue with him? Oh, year is what a great.
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  Speaker 3: Guy he is.
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  Speaker 2: Look, it is unprecedented for the mayor to reject the
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  Speaker 2: recommendation of the Chief Judge. The Chief Judge Wilson recommended
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  Speaker 2: Judge Leventhal and probably made other recommendations that we don't
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  Speaker 2: know about that were rejected. The point is not just
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  Speaker 2: about Judge Leventhal, who's got a stellar reputation, but what
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  Speaker 2: about the thousands of other New Yorkers. They couldn't find
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  Speaker 2: one Jew. I mean, it's a joke. I'm a lawyer.
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  Speaker 2: My two sisters a lawyers, one of which Adrian is
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  Speaker 2: your biggest fan. My brothers in law are lawyers. Every
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  Speaker 2: Jewish family in New York has tons of lawyers. They
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  Speaker 2: couldn't find one single Jewish former judge, law professor, lawyer
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  Speaker 2: to sit on a committee that's going to shape the
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  Speaker 2: future of the judiciary in New York City.
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  Speaker 3: Hard to believe.
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  Speaker 1: And Liz, the anti Semites will say, well, you know
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  Speaker 1: what it's about. Time was second tired of people bending
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  Speaker 1: over for the Jews. We want people that deserve the job.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's about merit. It's not about what your
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  Speaker 1: religion is, or your gender, your race, your color, all
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  Speaker 1: that stuff. So I guess you would have to make
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  Speaker 1: the argument. And I know the answer already because again
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  Speaker 1: everybody tells me how great he is, that Leventhal should
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  Speaker 1: have gotten this based on his merit.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Look, there needs to be judges and law professors.
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  Speaker 2: They need to be people who share our background and
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  Speaker 2: lived experiences. What did they say, the judges, the mayor's
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  Speaker 2: own committee members say it should this is a committee
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  Speaker 2: that's going to be truly reflective of New York City. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think it's truly reflective of New York City
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  Speaker 2: when you don't have a single Jewish jurist law professor
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  Speaker 2: on this committee. That's not reflective of New York City.
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  Speaker 2: New York City has ten percent of New York City
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  Speaker 2: is Jewish. We've got a million Jews in this city,
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  Speaker 2: and they couldn't scrounge up one person to be on
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  Speaker 2: the committee. It's beyond disappointed.
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  Speaker 1: Look, nobody dislikes this mayor more than me. I think
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  Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why you and your kids
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  Speaker 1: love me, right.
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  Speaker 3: Lace, I mean, but I do to this guy.
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  Speaker 1: I actually be put in prison, to be honest, four
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  Speaker 1: hours a day, every day and even weekends about the
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  Speaker 1: chance on places like box News. I'm on record saying I.
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  Speaker 3: Hate the man.
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  Speaker 1: That's a strong word, but I literally hate Mayor Mom Donnie,
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  Speaker 1: hate his guts. But can we prove beyond the shadow
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  Speaker 1: of a doubt even though the numbers tell us the
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  Speaker 1: whole story that Leventhal and other judges were not picked
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  Speaker 1: because they're Jewish.
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  Speaker 2: I can't get in their head, but I think we
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  Speaker 2: would be very naive sid to think that in a
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  Speaker 2: city with tens of thousands of Jews Jewish lawyers, that
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  Speaker 2: not one of them is qualified to sit on this committee,
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  Speaker 2: not a single one.
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  Speaker 1: Has he come back with any responds to that great
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  Speaker 1: letter you guys.
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  Speaker 2: Wrote, Well, it took them quite some time. You know.
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  Speaker 2: There was a law journal, a great law journal article
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  Speaker 2: a week ago talking about Judge Levinshall, and it took
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  Speaker 2: them a week to come up with some excuse why
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  Speaker 2: they didn't put him in particular. But what about all
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  Speaker 2: the other Well.
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  Speaker 1: I got it because again, talking to some many brilliant people,
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  Speaker 1: including author, who loved this guy, what was their excuse?
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  Speaker 2: I'm curious they I think they said that he was
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  Speaker 2: on Maxwell's defense team at some point.
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  Speaker 3: But Delaine max Epstein case Okay, what.
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  Speaker 2: What about Karla Moscowitz, Ruth Bulk and Leslie Stein, Bernice Siegel,
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  Speaker 2: a member of the Brandeis Association. What about what about
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  Speaker 2: all of those former judges law professors? Where are they?
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  Speaker 2: Why aren't they on the committee?
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  Speaker 3: That's a very good question.
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  Speaker 1: Have you followed up then with a question like that
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  Speaker 1: for the mayor and his committee?
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  Speaker 2: Well, not just yet. This is all just blowing up.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you saw Melissa Russo reported on it.
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  Speaker 2: She was great. She tweeted out, it's the only place
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  Speaker 2: in New York you're not going to find the Jewish lawyer.
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  Speaker 3: You know what's funny about Melissa Russo? And I don't
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  Speaker 3: know her.
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  Speaker 1: So I see the last name Russo, and I thought
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  Speaker 1: she was Italian.
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  Speaker 3: So she came up.
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  Speaker 1: On me at this Ready Day parade because I had
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  Speaker 1: said that mom, Donnie doesn't care if Jewish people die.
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  Speaker 1: And I did say that, and I still mean that way, okay,
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  Speaker 1: that he wants Jews dead. And she said, well, how
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  Speaker 1: can you say that? And I said, have you heard
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  Speaker 1: about globalizing the Intifada?
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  Speaker 3: Not that they do. They killed Jews.
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  Speaker 1: So she came up on me at this Ready Day parade,
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  Speaker 1: and she expected that she was going to overtake me
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  Speaker 1: and I was going to cower, and I destroyed her.
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  Speaker 1: The best part was, I'm like, what are you talking?
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  Speaker 1: She goes, you know, I'm Jewish. I did not know
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  Speaker 1: that So's mother happens to be Jewish, So don't be
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  Speaker 1: confused by the Italian last name.
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  Speaker 3: She's actually Jewish.
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  Speaker 2: Did you know that we come in all stripes, shapes, sizes, colors.
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  Speaker 2: That's what they don't want you to know, and they
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  Speaker 2: don't want the world to know. They call us white colonizers.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, more than fifty percent of Jews are not white,
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  Speaker 2: so you know I'm not white. It's all an inversion
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  Speaker 2: of the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is all right. So first of all, great
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  Speaker 1: job on this. I mean that, and keep fighting. So
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  Speaker 1: what's your next move? What do you do next?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we have to wait and see how the mayor responds.
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  Speaker 2: This came out. You know, we sent the letter yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: I hope there's going to be a response. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know if you saw the New York Times, believe it
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  Speaker 2: or not. The New York Times reported on it. The
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  Speaker 2: comment from the mayor's office no comments.
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  Speaker 3: No comment, No comments, unbelievable.
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  Speaker 1: Well, keep fighting because this is an area where there
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  Speaker 1: should be a bunch of Jewish people. Obviously, so many
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  Speaker 1: great attorneys and judges, and judiciary system in New York
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  Speaker 1: is a loaded with amazing Jewish people. So I would say,
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  Speaker 1: keep fighting, Liz. You're doing amazing work here and we're
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  Speaker 1: behind you, and if I can do it to help you,
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  Speaker 1: I certainly will keep up the good fight.
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  Speaker 3: Liz, thank you so much, you got it said, Thanks.
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  Speaker 1: God, bless you, thank you. That's Elizabeth for Span and
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  Speaker 1: again she is the president of the Brandeis Association, partner
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  Speaker 1: at excuse me for Span Clears, LLP, on New York
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  Speaker 1: based law firm. And pretty amazing that Mamdanie rejects levenhal
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  Speaker 1: And there are still nineteen people on this committee, not
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  Speaker 1: one Jewish person, not one. Keep up the fight, Elizabeth Forcepan.
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