Former New York Gov. George E. Pataki and other officials can be sued for the involuntary civil commitment of violent sexual predators without notice or a hearing upon the completion of their prison terms, a federal judge has ruled.
Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff concluded that Pataki, the former commissioners of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, the state Office of Mental Health and others are not shielded by qualified immunity for actions that “rather blatantly violated plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.”
