Century-old law which makes cheating illegal in New York could be scrapped

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2024

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A US state could be about to scrap a century-old law which criminalises the act of cheating.

Adultery has been classed as a low-level criminal offence – known as a misdemeanour – in the state of New York since 1907.

Such laws were traditionally introduced in states across the US to reduce the number of divorces at a time when a cheating spouse was the only way to secure a legal split.

However, only about a dozen people have been charged in New York since 1972, with the last more than a decade ago.

And of those cases, just five have netted convictions, according to New York assemblyman Charles Lavine, who has sponsored a bill to repeal the seldom-used law.

“It just makes no sense whatsoever, and we’ve come a long way since intimate relationships between consenting adults are considered immoral,” he said.

“It’s a joke. This law was someone’s expression of moral outrage.”

Katharine Silbaugh, a law professor at Boston University who co-authored the book “A Guide to America’s Sex Laws”, said adultery bans were aimed at punishing women.

“Let’s just say this: patriarchy,” she said.

The bill to scrap the adultery ban has already passed the state assembly and is expected to soon pass the state senate, before it can move to the governor’s office for a signature.

How the law has been used since its creation

Just a few weeks after the law went into effect in 1907, a married man and a 25-year-old woman became the first people arrested after the man’s wife sued for divorce, according to a New York Times article from the time.

The last adultery charge in New York appears to have been filed in 2010 against a woman who was caught engaging in a sex act in a public park.

However, the case was later dropped as part of a plea deal.

The law was almost scrapped in the 1960s after a panel tasked with updating New York’s criminal laws found the adultery ban was practically impossible to enforce.

However, while the proposal was initially accepted in the state assembly, the chamber restored it after a politician argued scrapping the bill could give the impression that the state was endorsing infidelity, according to a New York Times article from 1965.

Most states in the US that still have adultery laws classify them as misdemeanours – a type of low-level offence.

However, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Michigan treat adultery as a much more serious type of offence, known as a felony.

Several states, including Colorado and New Hampshire, have moved to repeal their adultery laws, using similar arguments to those being used in New York.

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‘I forgive him’: Charlie Kirk’s wife delivers tearful message – and one America needs to hear most

Published

14 hours ago

September 22, 2025

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'I forgive him': Charlie Kirk's wife delivers tearful message - and one America needs to hear most

“I forgive him.” They were three little words, and yet, they were huge.

In a stadium packed to capacity, Erika Kirk’s address to an assassin was delivered in tears and received with silence until the crowd grew into applause.

“The answer to hate is not hate,” she added. It is, perhaps, the message America needs to hear most and the one it has heard least.

As it happened: Trump delivers speech at Charlie Kirk’s memorial

The memorial to Charlie Kirk felt like a Republican state funeral in all but name.

This was MAGA in mourning, an occasion that laid bare the influence of Charlie Kirk and his politics.

They had travelled in their tens of thousands to the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

They saluted a conservative icon and the dress code crafted a patriotic spectacle in red, white and blue.

It was an act of remembrance on a stadium scale, huge in size and sentiment. It was also big on politics.

From the president down, the Trump administration’s top tier spoke of politics after 10 September, the day Charlie Kirk was killed.

This was a Republican movement in one place, with one microphone, after an assassination that accelerated the tectonic shift in US politics.

A week and a half since the assassination, political reaction has distilled into a war over freedom of speech and that was revisited by the president, even if he reserved most of his speech to pay homage to Charlie Kirk.

The White House decanted a full team from Washington DC to Arizona.

They came for reasons of sympathy and bereavement, of course. It was also an occasion laced with politics.

This was Washington’s travelling roadshow swinging by the support that Charlie built.

The same support was critical in helping Donald Trump back into power at the last election, and the challenge confronting the White House is in harnessing that vote in his absence and carrying it forward.

Politically, it was a full-court press to style the horses amongst the youth vote and Christian nationalists.

Charlie Kirk brought them onside, and Team Trump wants to keep them there.

US

Charlie Kirk ally claims ‘miracle’ stopped bullet killing anyone else

Published

1 day ago

September 21, 2025

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Charlie Kirk ally claims 'miracle' stopped bullet killing anyone else

The producer of Charlie Kirk’s podcast has claimed that a “miracle” stopped more people being killed by the bullet that hit the right-wing influencer.

Andrew Kolvet claimed to have spoken to a surgeon that tried to save Mr Kirk’s life, and posted on social media to discuss the apparent lack of an exit wound.

A prominent right-wing figure in the US, Mr Kirk was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and was known for his conservative viewpoints on abortion, religion and LGBT issues.

The 31-year-old was shot dead while speaking at a university event in Utah last week.

Mr Trump and other public figures are expected to be in Arizona on Sunday for a memorial service for Mr Kirk which is expected to draw 100,000 people.

Mr Kolvet, executive producer of the Charlie Kirk Show, apologised for the “somewhat graphic” nature of his post on X.

In it, he discussed what he said was a lack of an exit wound from the bullet, despite it being “a high powered, high velocity round”.

Mr Kolvet included what he said were quotes from a surgeon who operated on Mr Kirk.

“It was an absolute miracle that someone else didn’t get killed,” Mr Kolvet quoted the surgeon as saying.

“His bone was so healthy and the density was so so impressive that he’s like the man of steel. It should have just gone through and through. It likely would have killed those standing behind him too.”

Mr Kolvet said what happened was “remarkable” and “miraculous”.

Memorial to draw 100,000 people

President Trump and JD Vance are expected to be among the prominent MAGA members who will pay tribute to Mr Kirk at the memorial event.

It will take place at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals NFL team, amid a heavy law enforcement presence.

President Trump has blamed the “radical left” for the death of Mr Kirk, whom he credited for helping him win the 2024 presidential election.

It comes as the death of Mr Kirk has turned into a debate over the First Amendment.

While they have repeatedly criticised what they claim are assaults on free speech, members of the MAGA movement appear to be taking a different stance when the subject is one of their own, launching attacks on people they deem to be making disparaging comments about Mr Kirk.

Dozens of people, from journalists to teachers, have already lost their jobs for allegedly making offensive comments about the podcaster.

Late-night chat show host Jimmy Kimmel was pulled from the air indefinitely by ABC following a backlash from the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission over the comedian’s remarks about Mr Kirk.

The State Department also has warned it would revoke the visas of any foreigners who celebrated his assassination.

US

Luigi Mangione’s lawyers call on judge to block the death penalty

Published

1 day ago

September 21, 2025

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Luigi Mangione's lawyers call on judge to block the death penalty

Lawyers for Luigi Mangione have called on a judge to block federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against him.

Mangione’s legal team says the 27-year-old’s case has been turned into a “Marvel movie” after a failed bid by the US Justice Department to indict him on terrorism charges over the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York on 4 December.

New York state judge Gregory Carro said there was no evidence that the killing, which took place as Mr Thompson walked into an investor conference at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel, amounted to a terrorist act.

But Judge Carro upheld second-degree murder charges, which suggest there was malicious intent – but not that it was premeditated.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has called for Mangione to face capital punishment, describing the charges against him as a “premeditated cold-blooded assassination that shocked America”.

But in the new court filing, Mangione’s legal team argues federal prosecutors have “violated Mr Mangione’s constitutional and statutory rights” by “staging a dehumanizing, unconstitutional ‘perp walk’ where he was televised, videotaped, and photographed clambering out of a helicopter in shackles” on the way to his first court appearance.

The legal team, led by former Manhattan prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo, also claims the death penalty case has been “fatally prejudiced” after President Donald Trump commented on it on Fox News.

Despite laws that prohibit any pre-trial commentary that could prejudice the defendant’s right to a free trial, he told the network on Thursday: “Think about Mangione. He shot someone in the back, as clear as you’re looking at me or I’m looking at you.”

The defence team’s 114-page court filing reads: “There is a high bar to dismissing an indictment due to pretrial publicity.

“However, there has never been a situation remotely like this one where prejudice has been so great against a death-eligible defendant.”

Federal prosecutors have until 31 October to respond to the documents.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all the state charges against him, which cannot result in the death penalty and only life imprisonment, unlike federal ones. He has also pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

He is due back in court for a pre-trial hearing in the state case on 1 December and the federal case on 5 December.

The 27-year-old was arrested five days after Mr Thompson was killed – when he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, around 230 miles west of New York City.