NY Senate votes down Gov. Hochul's pick for chief judge

The state Senate voted down Gov. Kathy Hochul's nominee to become New York state's top jurist on Wednesday, hastily ending a monthlong stalemate between the governor and her fellow Democrats who lead the chamber.

The 20-39 vote officially ends Hector LaSalle's bid to become the chief judge of the Court of Appeals, a powerful post that would have allowed him to lead the state's top court and entire judicial branch. The vote, which was held with just a few hours notice, came four weeks after the Senate Judiciary Committee initially voted LaSalle down, and a week after Senate Republicans filed a lawsuit seeking to force action by the full chamber.

By holding a surprise vote, Democrats were hoping to essentially render the Republican lawsuit moot and restart the nomination process. The GOP, whose members voted in favor of LaSalle, vowed to continue its suit in an attempt to set a constitutional precedent for future nominees.

"I think that we have come to the conclusion that we can find a better nominee to lead this court and we have to do it ASAP, because we have a court system that is teetering on the brink of disaster," said Senate Judiciary Chairman Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), referring to an ongoing backlog of cases within the courts.

LaSalle's nomination has been at the center of a burgeoning rift between Hochul and Senate Democrats, who, along with their allies in labor unions, took issue with some of LaSalle's judicial decisions and his prior history as a Long Island prosecutor. In one particular 2015 decision, LaSalle signed on to a decision that allowed Cablevision to continue with a defamation lawsuit against labor leaders by claiming they were acting in their personal capacity.

Through it all, Hochul steadfastly stood behind her nominee, a top midlevel appeals justice who would have been the first Latino to serve as the state's top judge. Like the Senate Republicans, she argued that the constitution requires the full Senate, not just a committee, to vote on her nominee, though she declined to file a lawsuit herself.

Now, the governor will have to select a new nominee as Senate Democrats continue to urge her to pick someone who has a background as a defense or civil rights lawyer.

In a statement, Hochul called the vote “long overdue“ and ”an important victory for the Constitution.”

"Now that the full Senate has taken a vote, I will work toward making a new nomination. I remain committed to selecting a qualified candidate to lead the court and deliver justice. That is what New Yorkers deserve,” she added.

The vote Wednesday marked the first time the Senate has rejected a governor's pick for the Court of Appeals since the current selection process was implemented in the 1970s.

For weeks, LaSalle's prospects for confirmation appeared slim. But they were made even slimmer on Wednesday when two of his few Democratic supporters, Sens. Luis Sepulveda of the Bronx and Kevin Thomas of Long Island, were absent from Albany.

Sepulveda was out of town on a “family health emergency,” according to his spokesperson, Rusking Pimentel. Thomas was overseas for a pre-scheduled conference in India, according his spokesperson Tyler Muzio.

“The senator reaffirms his conviction that Judge LaSalle possesses all the professional qualifications for the position he has been nominated by the governor,” Pimentel said. “It is the prerogative of the leadership to carry out the Senate's agenda and the senator is respectful of that process.”

In New York, the chief judge not only sits on the Court of Appeals, the state’s top court, but also oversees the complex web of state and local courts that make up the state’s Unified Court System. The role allows the judge to be one of seven jurists who rule on major cases that leave a lasting legal precedent in New York, but also puts him in charge of a multibillion-dollar budget for a court system overseeing thousands of cases statewide.

Hochul first nominated LaSalle — the presiding justice for the midlevel Appellate Division’s Second Department, which includes Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island — for the key role of chief judge in December. She repeatedly noted the historic nature of LaSalle's nomination, highlighting his Puerto Rican roots.

But the Democrat-led Senate Judiciary Committee voted down LaSalle’s nomination in January, with Thomas and Sepulveda being the only Democrats who voted to advance him to a full vote. Other Democrats had been pushing Hochul to nominate a judge with experience as a defense or civil rights lawyer, hoping to push the Court of Appeals, which has shifted rightward in recent years, back to the left. LaSalle is a former prosecutor.

The Senate’s Democratic leadership still contends that the committee vote should have officially killed LaSalle’s nomination. But Hochul and Senate Republicans claimed the state constitution — which says the governor nominates a judge with the “advice and consent” of the Senate — required a full Senate vote.

On Wednesday, the judiciary committee took up LaSalle's nomination a second time, voting "without recommendation" to advance him to a full vote. Senate Democrats said it was simply to put an end to the ongoing stalemate and, they hoped, the GOP lawsuit, particularly as Hochul and lawmakers begin to negotiate a $227 billion state budget proposal.

"This court case, if allowed to continue, would’ve dragged on for months and stymied our judicial system," said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers). "It’s time to put this matter to rest.”

Senate Republicans say the battle isn't over. LaSalle's nomination is dead, but the GOP intends to continue with its lawsuit in an effort to make clear the full Senate must vote on future nominees for chief judge. Initial court arguments are set for Friday in Suffolk County Supreme Court.

"I'm glad to see [LaSalle's nomination is] here on the floor, but unfortunately it's here for untoward reasons," said Long Island Sen. Anthony Palumbo, the ranking Republican on the judiciary committee who filed the GOP's lawsuit. "We need to have this issue resolved definitively, not left to the whims of a majority that feels they can change the rules at any given time."

Palumbo continued: "It does not render [the lawsuit] moot, so I look forward to Friday."

Now, Hochul must negotiate her state budget plan with the very Democratic lawmakers who rejected her chief judge pick. The state's deadline to have a final budget in place is April 1.

This story has been updated since the vote occurred.