New York says tax law tramples states’ rights

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that New York state will sue the federal government over the new Republican tax law, but legal experts are skeptical that the lawsuit will hold up in court.

Cuomo said New York will challenge how the law limits the amount Americans can deduct from their federal taxes for payments made to state and local governments. Cuomo said the provision violates “states rights and the principle of equal protection.”

“Washington has launched an all-out, direct attack on New York State’s economic future,” Cuomo said in his State of the State address.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson said motel employees divulged the names, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, license plate numbers and room numbers of at least 9,150 guests to U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents without a warrant. At least six people were detained on or near motel properties during a two-year period.

Motel 6 was aware the agents used the guest registry information to single out guests based on national origin, the state’s lawsuit fi led in King County Superior Court alleged. The state seeks civil penalties of up to $ 2,000 per violation. country, including in Manhattan. There, Geoffrey Berman, a partner with Rudy Giuliani in the firm Greenberg Traurig and a former federal prosecutor, was named to the interim post that handles some of the most high-profile cases in the country.

Sessions said the appointments were necessary because those serving on an acting basis had reached the maximum amount of time they are permitted to do so.

President Donald Trump ultimately must nominate, and the Senate must confi rm, leaders to fi ll each of the 93 U.S. attorney jobs across the country. In March 2017, the president removed dozens of Obama-era holdovers, leaving their top deputies to assume leadership roles while Trump contemplated his own picks.

So far, Trump has nominated 58 people, 46 of whom have been confirmed by the Senate.