Vallejos v Commissioner of Registration
Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon of the CFI had been expected to rule on the case on 29 September 2011. However, the Hong Kong Observatory raised tropical cyclone warning signal No. 8 due to the approach of Typhoon Nesat early that morning, meaning that government offices closed for the day. The next morning, the weather had returned to normal, and Lam announced his ruling that the relevant provision of the Immigration Ordinance was inconsistent with the Basic Law. Vallejos herself did not attend court that day, as she was at work.
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Since its founding, NCLEJ has won many notable cases. In 1968, NCLEJ won its first Supreme Court welfare case, King v. Smith, which prevented the states from denying public benefits to families determined to be eligible under prior federal law. In 1970, NCLEJ secured a victory in the landmark Supreme Court decision Goldberg v. Kelly, which recognized the right for welfare recipients to receive notice and a fair hearing before being deprived of their benefits. That decision is still a major tool in NCLEJ litigation today. In NCLEJ’s 1970 case Califano v. Westcott, the Supreme Court held sex discrimination in public benefits policies to be unconstitutional.