Dem
51
GOP
49
Yesterday, the Judiciary Committee of the New York State Senate voted 10-2 to reject Gov. Kathy Hochul's (D) choice of Hector LaSalle to be the state's chief judge. Seven other members voted to send the nomination to the Senate floor without a recommendation. Adding these up, ten members do not want to send the nomination to the floor, while nine want the full Senate to vote on it, but only two of those nine actually support LaSalle. Put another way, that's 10 "nay," 2 "yea" and 7 "pass the buck" votes.
The New York judicial system is unlike that of any other state. First of all, the state Supreme Court is, well, not supreme. The top court is the (seven-member) Court of Appeals. It is headed by a chief judge. When there is a vacancy on the Court, the judicial nominating commission gives the governor a list of seven candidates. The governor must pick one of the seven for the nomination.
LaSalle is a Latino from a working-class background. Normally that would be good enough for most New York Democrats. However, LaSalle's voting record as a lower court judge suggests an anti-worker, anti-union, anti-choice perspective that the state senators don't like. Multiple unions oppose him as do pro-choice groups. Hochul was no doubt trying to score points with Latino voters by picking LaSalle, but he is too conservative for many of the state senators.
Hochul has threatened to take the state Senate to court to force an up-or-down vote on LaSalle. LaSalle might win a vote of the full Senate as all the Republicans would vote for him out of fear of a much more liberal candidate if he is rejected. What happens if Hochul does that and the Court of Appeals has to vote on its new chief judge? It would be messy. The legal aspect of this is murky. The state Constitution says that the governor gets to make appointments with the advice and consent of the Senate. Does this mean the Senate must take a vote on the floor, or can the relevant committee kill the nomination before it gets to the floor? It is uncharted waters. If this case ends up in the Court of Appeals, maybe Hochul could ask Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to write an amicus brief since he has thought long and hard on the matter of whether a Senate must vote on a high court nominee.
There are potential national implications here. The New York State Legislature produced an extremely gerrymandered congressional map last year, but the Court of Appeals struck it down. Although a new map is required at least every 10 years, there is nothing to prevent the state legislature from drawing up a new map whenever it wants to. Some Democrats would like a more progressive chief judge than the one who retired so they can draw up a new map and get it in place before the 2024 U.S. House elections. That could conceivably result in two or three new House seats for the Democrats, so the matter of the chief judge is very important. (V)