Judge To Silverstein: You're Still Outta Here

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, April 1, 4:23 p.m. EST?The judge presiding over the World Trade Center insurance dispute case angrily rejected a bid by leaseholder Larry Silverstein this week to regain permission to attend the trial.[@@]

Manhattan Federal Judge Michael Mukasey banned Mr. Silverstein from entering the courtroom March 18 after the developer flouted a gag order against public comment and spoke out during a press conference about his $3.5 billion dispute with insurers.

Still smoldering over the incident, for which Mr. Silverstein could have been held in contempt, the judge told his attorneys that "as far as I can tell, the only thing that's been added [from the prior week's gag-order hearing] is that I found out that he is willing to violate an order and then he is willing to misrepresent facts about it. I don't see how that recommends in favor of his coming back in."

Mr. Silverstein had claimed he was misinformed by staff that the gag order was lifted, but he could not name the person who gave him that information.

The attempt to win back Mr. Silverstein's courtroom access was made by Floyd Abrams, a high-profile First Amendment advocate. He asked whether the judge could make "any additional determination," to which the judge replied that he didn't know "if any additional determination was called for."

"Do you really want to go into this?" snapped Judge Mukasey, whose patience has been wearing thin in recent days following Mr. Silverstein's gag-order controversy.

When the judge banished Mr. Silverstein from sitting in the courtroom for violating the gag order, he said his decision to keep Mr. Silverstein out would stand as "a precautionary measure."

Mr. Abrams told the judge he had prepared a letter which identifies what his legal team believes is the applicable law illustrating Mr. Silverstein's legal right to attend court sessions.

The judge responded that if Mr. Silverstein wants to communicate with his lawyers during the day, "he can do that from outside?I have allowed people [from both parties] to bring cell phones in [the courthouse] so that there is a vast possibility of communication."

Judge Mukasey emphasized that his order is preventative, rather than a punitive measure. In other words, the judge explained, it's being done because "I don't know what he would do if he thought that something to his disadvantage was happening, and I am not going to risk it."

The judge speculated aloud that if he had three lives to lead, "I would lead one of them as an experiment" and perhaps might allow Mr. Silverstein back in. "But I don't; I have one [life]. And I am not going to experiment with what would happen if [Mr. Silverstein is allowed to return]."

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Judge To Silverstein: You're Still Outta Here

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