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Gov. Hochul, Senate Democrats face constitutional confrontation over chief judge pick

The New York state Capitol building at night.
Matt Ryan
/
New York NOW
The New York state Capitol building at night.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on Governor Kathy Hochul’s nominee for the next chief judge, Hector LaSalle, setting up a potential showdown between the governor and the Senate over differing interpretations of the state’s constitution.

Fourteen Democratic senators have already said they won’t vote for Hector LaSalle, who leads a mid-level appeals court in Brooklyn. The progressive-leaning senators say LaSalle sided against union interests, due process rights for defendants, and against abortion rights in some cases where he joined other judges to issue an opinion.

LaSalle will face questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was expanded earlier this month to include three more Democrats. All of them have said they would not support Hochul’s pick, making it likely that the committee will reject LaSalle.

Governor Hochul strongly defends LaSalle, saying that opponents are portraying him unfairly, saying he’s been “horribly maligned based on a handful of cherry picked cases” out of 5,000 proceedings that the judge has presided over. She says LaSalle has sided with labor unions much more often than he has ruled against them.

“So, there is a whole body of evidence,” Hochul said.

Hochul says it’s absurd to think that she, as the state’s first woman to become governor who is strongly pro-abortion rights and an ally of labor unions, would choose a nominee who opposes those things.

The governor says even if the judiciary committee votes against LaSalle, the fight isn’t over. She believes that, under the state’s constitution, the committee’s decision could be bypassed. She says the constitution states that the confirmation process is supposed to include the entire Senate.

“Because the constitution of the state of New York is clear,” Hochul told reporters on Thursday. “The New York State Senate has to consent and advise the governor on her appointment.”

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins disagrees with Hochul’s interpretation of the constitution. She says if a nomination or a bill is rejected in the committee process, it does not move to the Senate floor.

“Anything that comes to the floor goes first through committee,” Stewart-Cousins said. “It doesn’t get to the floor unless it gets out of committee.”

But Stewart-Cousins, who said it would be “easier” if Hochul withdrew LaSalle’s name and chose someone else, says it’s too soon to “presume” a particular outcome.

The hearing begins at 10 a.m. and is expected to be lengthy. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Hoylman has already said LaSalle will face a “high bar.”

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 public radio stations in New York State. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990. She is also a regular contributor to the statewide public television program about New York State government, New York Now. She appears on the reporter’s roundtable segment and interviews newsmakers. Karen previously worked for WINS Radio, New York, and has written for numerous publications, including Adirondack Life and the Albany newsweekly Metroland.