Schwartz v. City of New York

Summary

An Orthodox Jewish psychotherapist filed a federal lawsuit against the city of New York for violating his freedom of speech and infringing on his religious faith and that of his patients. Dr. Dovid Schwartz, a licensed psychotherapist and member of the Chabad Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Community in Brooklyn, is challenging the city’s ordinance that prohibits certain patient-counselor conversations that the New York City Council disfavors. The counseling censorship law extends to the counseling of willing adult patients and threatens increasing fines of $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000 for first, second, and subsequent violations.