We New Yorkers have been through a lot in the past three years:
- We suffered the leading edge of COVID in March and April 2020, which killed tens of thousands when prevention and treatment were barely developing.
- Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace in August 2021, giving us our first woman Governor, Kathy Hochul.
- The New York State Court of Appeals threw out the Legislature’s Congressional District maps, with the deciding vote cast by Andrew Cuomo appointee, Janet DiFiore.
- DiFiore appointed a “Special Master,”* who just happened to recommend a District Map that substantially disadvantaged Democrats.
- In August 2022, DiFore resigned as Chief Judge, while subject to an ethics probe.
- That Map, along with a perfect storm of other factors, resulted in loss of four Democratic House seats, and ascension to power of a Speaker beholden to pro-insurrectionists, including MGT, who has been best buddies with, e.g., Nick Fuentes.
- One of those four is, of course, liar di tutti liars, George Santos.
- Governor Hochul, supported by New York progressive groups like the Working Families Party, was elected to a full term.
- The New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination recommended to her seven candidates for Chief Judge, including several progressive judges and one, Hector LaSalle, noted for decisions criticized by pro-choice and pro-union groups.
- Governor Hochul picked Judge LaSalle, the most conservative of the seven, as nominee.
To summarize:
A conservative Chief Judge throws out the NY Legislature’s map, resulting in Republican gains in New York, enabling a House run by insurrectionists. New York’s Governor is elected with enthusiastic support from progressives after desperate appeals from the Governor in the campaign. She chooses the most right wing of possible Chief Judges for the State’s highest Court, setting the stage not only for decisions adverse to the progressive constituencies who put her over the top, but a potential repeat of the type of decision that helped give control of the House to those insurrectionists.
Fortunately, the Governor’s Chief Judge appointment must be confirmed by the New York State Senate, and fourteen Senators have already come out against the LaSalle nomination. And it’s not just progressives. Moderates like Senator Shelly Mayer are among the fourteen.
There are significant risks to a state senator for strongly opposing the Governor with whom they must work for four years. All the more reason to flood New York State Senators’ inboxes with messages opposing the nomination.
Please use it if you are in New York. If you are not, please send it to everyone you know in New York. (Everyone knows people in New York, amirite?)
Below, New York union leader Jimmy Mahoney delivers a powerful rebuke to the Governor, reminding her she came to them again and again in the campaign: “I was Team Hochul for a year . . . The phone [from Hochul] rang and rang” asking for money and support. “She promised us that we would have a seat at the table. This is not right.” In response, according to sources, Hochul has withdrawn Mahoney’s RSVP for the State of the State address.
*just like that other outstanding jurist, Aileen Cannon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
**Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and [@legislatorTitle] [@legislatorLast]:
Gov. Hochul has nominated Justice Hector LaSalle despite significant alarm raised by unions, reproductive rights organizations, Senators, and other New Yorkers concerned about Justice LaSalle’s record. Justice LaSalle’s deeply conservative judicial record includes decisions that are anti-abortion, anti-union, and anti-due process. His decisions make clear that his judicial philosophy is wrong for New York, and that, if confirmed as Chief Judge, he would be a continuation of former Chief Judge DiFiore’s right-wing Court of Appeals.
Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and [@legislatorTitle] [@legislatorLast], I call on you to publicly oppose Justice LaSalle for Chief Judge. His nomination is unacceptable, and the Senate has a constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent on Court of Appeals nominees, not merely to rubber stamp the Governor's selection.
I urge you to reject Justice LaSalle’s nomination and demand a Chief Judge nominee who will protect the rights of workers, tenants, women, and all New Yorkers. We must fight for The Court New York Deserves.