New York Republican sues fellow Democrats over Supreme Court vote

Three weeks after a State Senate committee rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul’s candidacy for Chief Justice of New York’s highest court, a legislator filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking a full vote for the nominee.

Republican Senator Anthony Palumbo is suing the Democrats, who control the Senate, challenging the Judiciary Committee’s rejection of Hector LaSalle’s candidacy to head New York’s judiciary as head of the state Court of Appeals.

Palumbo, the top Republican on the committee, said the state constitution does not leave the commission with the final say.

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“The vote of a simple committee of the Senate—here the Judiciary Committee—does not satisfy the constitutional requirement of advice and consent. The Constitution does not delegate this authority to a committee,” the lawsuit filed in Suffolk State Court says. District.

A Republican in the New York Senate is suing the Democrats’ decision to nominate Hector LaSalle to the state’s highest court. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, file)

Some of Hole’s fellow Democrats opposed her choice of LaSalle, who would be the first Hispanic to head a seven-member high court. Progressive activists, union leaders and liberal senators have said his track record as an appellate judge is too conservative for such a powerful position.

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Supporters of LaSalle, who presides over one of the state’s four appellate districts, accuse his critics of unfairly characterizing his views based on several cases.

The committee rejected it after several hours of questioning and thus fulfilled its legal duty, Senate Democrats say.

“It’s embarrassing, but not surprising, that Senate Republicans don’t have a basic understanding of the law or the constitution,” Senate Democratic Representative Mike Murphy wrote in an email.

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Hochul also said that the entire Senate should vote for LaSalle. She did not say whether she would file her own lawsuit, appoint a different judge, or choose another option. Her administration also declined to comment on the Republican lawsuit.