Dem
51
GOP
49
Speaking of people who claim(ed) to be progressive, but maybe aren't, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) uncorked a real head-scratcher of a decision yesterday. The New York Court of Appeals is that state's highest court, and its Chief Judge, Janet DiFiore, resigned earlier this year. DiFiore is pretty conservative, and with her on the Court, it had four conservatives, two liberals and one moderate. Naturally, if DiFiore is replaced with a liberal, then the court goes from 4-2-1 to a much more even 3-3-1.
Once the vacancy opened up, Hochul issued a statement outlining the kind of judge she wanted to appoint. That statement includes this paragraph:
The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken—with decisions such as Dobbs vs. Jackson, taking away a woman's right to choose, and New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. Bruen, tossing a century-old law protecting New Yorkers from the proliferation of guns. We are now relying on our state courts more than ever to protect our rights. We need our courts to defend against this Supreme Court's rapid retreat from precedent and continue our march toward progress.
That, and the rest of the statement, seemed to make pretty clear that a lefty was coming down the turnpike.
Still, the matter is not entirely up to Hochul. The Commission on Judicial Nomination narrows the field down to seven nominees, leaving the governor to pick one. The list the Commission produced had some lefties, some moderates, and one conservative, former prosecutor and current judge of the New York Supreme Court Hector LaSalle (recall that in the Empire State, the Court of Appeals is above the Supreme Court).
LaSalle has a pretty long track record, and there can be little question as to his generally conservative outlook. The presence of his name on the list worried a group of 40+ law professors enough that they sent a letter to Hochul, urging her not to select LaSalle. After reviewing a number of his rulings, the letter concludes:
These are only some of Justice LaSalle's decisions that trouble us. We focus on them because of what we believe they tell us about Justice LaSalle's judicial philosophy. They show an insensitivity to the importance of reproductive rights, a disregard for labor's rights and its value in our political system, and a callousness about defendants' rights and principles of due process. These decisions remind us of the rulings of Republican appointees to the federal bench. They seem out of step with the values of New Yorkers and the platform on which you have run and won election.
Nearly all of the signatories are affiliated with law schools in New York state, though one or two of them are employed by a small school that is apparently located in New Haven, CT.
Hochul's nominee, as you have certainly figured out by now, is LaSalle. Left-leaning groups are largely apoplectic, and the more lefty they are, the more apoplectic they are. LaSalle is not conservative in the Clarence Thomas sense; more in the Anthony Kennedy sense. Still, someone who votes with the conservative wing of the Court much more often than with the liberal wing is not what Hochul's statement seemed to promise. That's doubly true when it comes to the specific areas of concern that the Governor laid out.
We are hardly experts in particular game of inside baseball in a state that is more than 2,500 miles removed from our places of residence, and we are happy to be enlightened by any readers who know more than we do. However, it appears that Hochul felt she needed to throw a big bone to the state's Latino voters. Appointing the first Latino to serve as New York's chief judge will certainly do that. Of course, given her generally shaky tenure, not to mention her less-than-stellar political skills, Hochul was already going to face a serious primary challenge when and if she runs for reelection. Now, the magnitude of that problem has grown considerably.
LaSalle is not home-free yet; he still needs 32 votes for confirmation from the state Senate. We assume the 20 Republicans in the body will vote for him, since this is the best they are going to do with a Democrat in the governor's mansion. The question is whether the nominee can pick up a dozen or so Democratic votes. That we do not know (see baseball, inside).
If LaSalle is confirmed, it could and probably will have national implications. New York Democrats are itching to redraw the state's district maps before 2024, after having been smacked down by the DiFiore court prior to the 2022 election. If LaSalle takes over for DiFiore, a gerrymander is far more likely to get struck down again than if a liberal ends up in that seat. So, this bears watching. (Z)