Constitutional law attorneys handle cases involving the construction and interpretation of federal and state constitutions, including individual rights and governmental powers. Constitutional law cases can involve issues like First Amendment rights -- such as freedom of speech, press, and religion -- and the checks and balances on authority among different branches of government. Most of the federal constitutional rights are found in the Bill of Rights, that was created originally as a limitation on the action by the federal government, but many of those rights are also applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Cold Spring is a village located in the Town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York. The population was 1,983 at the 2000 census. It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville. The central area of the village is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Cold Spring Historic District due to its many well-preserved 19th-century buildings, constructed to accommodate workers at the nearby West Point Foundry (itself a Registered Historic Place today). The town is the birthplace of General Gouverneur K. Warren, who was an important figure in the Union Army during the Civil War. It was also the site of one of the world's largest Superfund cleanups, stemming from the disposal of nearly 150 metric tons of nickel-cadmium waste into Foundry Cove, Constitution Marsh and the adjoining Hudson River. This was committed during the mid part of the twentieth century by Marathon Battery Co. , which manufactured nickel-cadmium batteries for use in Nike missile guidance systems during the Cold War. In the late 1980s, due in part to the Clean Water Act, the SuperFund Act, and persistent interest by local citizens a plan was developed to clean the site and was enacted in 1994. By 1996 the major dredging operations were complete. Commuter service to New York City is available via the Cold Spring train station, served by Metro-North Railroad.