NEW YORK – Today, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, candidate for Manhattan district attorney, announced the endorsement of Roberta Robbie Kaplan, renowned attorney and co-founder of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
“The next district attorney must be someone who will bring the seriousness and sensitivity necessary to take on gender-based violence – violence that was exposed so horrifically by the pandemic. For far too long, such violence has taken a backseat to other issues, as evidenced by the fact that men like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, both Manhattan residents, were able to get away with their crimes for decades,” said Robbie Kaplan. “I know that Tali is the right person to begin transforming how prosecutors respond to gender-based violence. Tali understands how such violence is underreported and under prosecuted, that our criminal justice has failed survivors, and that we must change course. I also believe that Tali has the experience, judgment, and wisdom to tackle the hardest questions in American law, including renewing the Manhattan DA’s focus on white collar criminal enforcement. For these reasons, I am delighted to endorse her.”
Robbie Kaplan has received numerous honors and recognitions for her groundbreaking legal work and was recently recognized as the 2020 “Attorney of the Year” by the New York Law Journal. She is the founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP and co-founder of The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which supports people who have experienced sexual harassment or retaliation at work to help them seek justice, and works to protect others from similar behavior.
In 2017, Robbie filed a lawsuit under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 against twenty-four neo-Nazi and white supremacist leaders responsible for organizing the racially motivated violence in Charlottesville. Robbie is perhaps best known for successfully representing Manhattan resident Edith Windsor before the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor, the case that invalidated the key sections of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and required the federal government to recognize marriages of the same-sex. Robbie has represented survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence in high-profile cases. Never one to back down from a fight, Robbie has also taken on Donald Trump, filing a defamation suit against the former President on behalf of columnist E. Jean Carroll and a fraud case on behalf of his niece, Mary Trump.
In March, Robbie joined Tali as a guest on her podcast Hearing for an expansive discussion about the power of the law to help push the cultural conversation forward. Click here to listen to the episode, “Using the Law to Combat Hate.”
“Robbie is an American hero and an inspiration to me. She has used the law to break new ground with courage and tremendous skill. She has gone to court to fight hate, discrimination, and abuse in its many forms – to great effect and success,” said Tali Farhadian Weinstein. “I am humbled and grateful for Robbie’s support and look forward to working with her to ensure we use the legal system’s power to fight hate, white supremacy, and sexual violence at every turn and to stand on the side of the most vulnerable always.”
In November, Tali released her plan for a new Bureau of Gender-Based Violence. The Bureau will report directly to the district attorney and house Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence units, as well as units concentrating on human trafficking, elder abuse, stalking, and gender-based hate crimes.
Robbie Kaplan’s support follows recent endorsements by The National Organization for Women – New York City (NOW-NYC), the largest women’s rights organization in the city, and the feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem.
Tali also endorsed by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (NY-7); Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13); and Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15); US Attorney General Eric Holder; former NAACP President Ben Jealous; esteemed First Amendment lawyer Victor Kovner and his wife, activist Sarah Kovner; former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger; Jackie Rowe-Adams, co-founder of Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E.; Carol Bellamy and Letty Cottin Pogrebin; the Asian American Police Executives Council; Hugh H. Mo Esq., AAPEX Chairman and former Deputy Police Commissioner of Trials; and Virginia Kee, Founder and Board Member of the Chinese American Planning Council and President Emeritus of UDO.
If elected, Tali would be the first woman and first immigrant elected to serve as Manhattan district attorney. To learn more about Tali’s campaign, visit www.TaliForDA.com.
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