New York State Senate Judiciary Chief Proposes Conservatives Not to Run for Senior Judges

Having just voted against Gov. Kathy Hochul’s centrist candidacy to head the state’s highest court, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that progressive Democrats will not allow anyone who has ever been on the Conservative Party line to become a judge.

“This is a decision to take the position of a party that is against reproductive health, against workers’ rights, against LGBTQ equality in marriage,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Hoylman-Segal (D-Manhattan) told WNYC.

“Hopefully going forward, we have made it clear that we will not accept nominations of judges who will run on this line.”

Although Hoylman-Segal later attempted to rebut the comment by saying that he misspoke, the idea that candidates could be stripped of high-level judges for appearing on the Conservative Party ballot was criticized as “outrageous” by some lawyers.

“Deciding who becomes a judge in New York State based on an ideological litmus test is problematic and incredibly dangerous,” a prominent sitting judge told The Post. “We are on a path that really challenges our democratic norms.”

Hoylman-Segal’s comment came a day after the committee voted against the nomination of Hector Lasalle in the full Senate.

LaSalle, who has been accused by left-wing Democrats of making anti-union and anti-abortion decisions, has previously run for Democratic, Republican and Conservative judicial office as Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals.

Many judges in places like Brooklyn and Long Island run as merger candidates to show off their cross-party appeal, with party leaders playing a big role in deciding which candidates stand as the only candidates on the ballot.

“I did not want to be considered a partisan. So it was the highest honor for me that the different parties from the left, right, in the middle were confident in my neutrality, impartiality and balance to give me their nominations,” former Liberal Chief Justice Jonathan Lippman told The Post about running for office. Westchester Judiciary many years ago supported by the Conservative Party.

Later Thursday, Hoylman-Segal told The Post that he personally thinks it’s important to interrogate prospective judge candidates about past support from a powerful third party, including political donations, without applying any general rule.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins ​​(D-Yonkers) did not immediately comment on Thursday.

But excluding many sitting judges from the pool of future judicial candidates could help progressives by giving defense lawyers and academics a better chance of getting into the top court, which has historically been dominated by former prosecutors.

This includes several chief justice candidates who were previously vetted by a state commission, along with Lasalle, who was the only one of seven potential candidates who had previously run for judicial office through multiple voting lines.

“While I understand that elected judges usually run on multiple voting lines, including the Conservative Party… There are many qualified judges who have either never been elected (they have been appointed) or have not been elected through the Conservative or Republican Party lines.” State Senator Julia Salazar (Brooklyn State) said in the text.

But undue local influence could hurt Democrats in places like Brooklyn if the Conservative Party ends up retaliating against any future moves to block judge candidates solely on the basis of their association with the group.

“Senator Hoylman-Segal wants future judges tentatively handed down in this state to match his own ideological inclinations. Maybe it’s time for the Conservative Party to reconsider its cross-approval of the Democrats,” Conservative Party chairman Gerard Cassard said Thursday.

“Shouldn’t justice be blind?” he added.