Raven challenges DEC falsehoods and state court bias with strong federal constitutional case

ALBANY, N.Y. - Dec. 2, 2025 - PRLog -- Artist, author, and constitutional activist Julian Raven has filed what he describes as a "water-tight, meticulously documented rebuttal" to U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci's preliminary threat to dismiss his federal civil rights case against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Raven's response—now on federal record—details procedural violations so extreme that they forced him to simultaneously file judicial misconduct complaints, attorney-grievance complaints, and sanctions motions against multiple state actors.

Raven's federal filing highlights a glaring problem: Judge Nardacci's initial order appeared rushed, boilerplate, and factually inaccurate, even asserting that Raven was raising monetary claims for damages—claims he never made. His lawsuit seeks only injunctive relief for due-process violations that have persisted for eight years. "It was obvious Judge Nardacci did not properly read my complaint," Raven states. "She tried to dismiss claims I never brought."

At the same time, Raven recounts severe judicial bias in Chemung County Supreme Court, where Judge Christopher Baker denied every single motion filed by Raven—including motions for subpoenas to examine DEC officials—while granting every request made by the DEC. Raven's filings describe that the November 14 TRO hearing "was predetermined," with Baker entering the courtroom already set to deny relief, even though Albany Supreme Court Justice Richard Platkin had previously issued a TRO against the very same agency and the very same two lawyers—Nicholas Buttino and Susan Lee Taylor—now litigating against Raven.

The turning point came when Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Buttino made what Raven calls a "staggering fabrication" in open court: claiming for the first time that Raven's property had been classified in 2009—a claim contradicted by the DEC's own record, FOIL admissions, and every scientific report since 2008. Buttino then falsely attempted to elevate Raven's status to "responsible party" despite the DEC never completing its 2013 MACTEC investigation, which documented no contaminant source, no receptors, and no legal basis to assign liability.

The truth, Raven says, is far worse. On March 6, 2017, DEC project attorney Dudley Loew issued an Order on Consent that confused Raven's Elmira property with a former dry cleaner site in Greece, New York—130 miles away. That mix-up imported a Class 2 "Significant Threat" label that legally belongs to the "Perfecto Dry Cleaners" site, not Raven's building. "Every DEC action since 2017 is built on that catastrophic error," Raven states. "It renders all DEC actions void, ultra vires, and unconstitutional."

Judge Baker refused to address the false statements, refused to grant an in-camera review of the 148 of 161 withheld DEC emails, and refused to recuse himself—even after admitting in open court to extrajudicial knowledge of Raven's property and personal acquaintance with him.

Faced with this collapse of due process, Raven filed:

• Judicial misconduct complaint against Judge Baker
• Attorney grievance complaint against AAG Buttino
• Motion for sanctions and adverse inference
• Administrative complaint to the 6th Judicial District Administrative Judge Faugnan
• Formal notice to Judge Nardacci explaining why federal intervention is necessary

"My Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights are being trampled in Elmira," Raven said. "That's why I'm now in federal court. Someone has to hold the state to the Constitution."

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