Case Name: In the Matter of Joseph Curle, Respondent, v. Benjamin Ward, as Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services of the State of New York, et al., Appellants
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1979-04-03
Citations: 46 N.Y.2d 1049
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of Joseph Curle, Respondent, v Benjamin Ward, as Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services of the State of New York, et al., Appellants.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 46
Pages: 1049–1057

Head Matter:
In the Matter of Joseph Curle, Respondent, v Benjamin Ward, as Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services of the State of New York, et al., Appellants.
Argued February 7,1979;
decided April 3, 1979,
amended April 5,1979
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Robert Abrams, Attorney-General (Lawrence L. Doolittle and Ruth Kessler Toch of counsel), for appellants.
Richard R. Rowley and Jeffrey G. Plant for respondent.

Opinion:
OPINION OF THE COURT
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Division should be modified, with costs to respondent, by providing that the declarations of unconstitutionality be stricken.
Examination of the record on respondent's motion for sum mary judgment reveals that appellants have failed to tender sufficient evidence of the claimed detrimental impact of employee membership in the Ku Klux Klan (or even the perception thereof by inmates) upon the operation of correctional facilities to support the disciplinary action taken in this case. The only "evidence" submitted constitutes nothing more than speculation as to the effect which such membership might have upon the correctional facilities. In view of the meager and nearly barren state of the record, we do not address the broader constitutional issue raised by the parties.