New York Gov. Kathy Hochul saw a remarkable defeat Wednesday in her ongoing judicial nomination self-own. Hochul’s nomination of Hector LaSalle, a conservative appeals court judge, to the state’s highest court, was voted down in the state Senate's Judiciary Committee.
Ten Democrats opposed sending LaSalle’s nomination to the full Senate, while two Democrats voted in favor of LaSalle and one Democrat and all six Republicans on the committee voted to advance LaSalle’s nomination for a vote, but “without recommendation.”
This may not be the end of the LaSalle saga, though. Hochul has threatened legal action to force a vote of the full Senate on his nomination. If she gets her way, she’d be relying on Republican votes to confirm her pick for chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. But why is Hochul trying to force through the nomination of a conservative judge over the opposition of progressive Democrats, labor unions, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and reproductive rights advocates, among other groups whose opinions you would expect a Democratic governor to respect?
RELATED STORY: Why does a Democratic governor want a conservative judge to lead her state's highest court?
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“Justice LaSalle’s record fails to demonstrate a commitment to civil rights and racial, gender, and economic justice,” LDF policy direct Lisa Cylar Barrett said in a statement when the group came out against the nomination, “and includes decisions to deny constitutional protection to claims of jury discrimination on the basis of skin color, shield so-called pregnancy crisis centers from full legal scrutiny, and approve the questionable interrogation of a 15-year-old who had ‘fundamental problems’ understanding his due-process rights.”
“In addition,” Cylar Barrett continued, “Justice LaSalle’s confirmation to the court would entrench a longstanding imbalance by installing a majority of four judges on the Court of Appeals who are former prosecutors.”
Hochul “promised us that we would have a seat at the table,” one union leader said on Monday. “She put us on the menu. This is not right. The way it was rolled out, it was so unprofessional and backstabbing.”
This is yet another baffling and questionably competent move from Hochul following her embarrassingly narrow reelection, which came alongside an equally embarrassing underperformance by New York Democrats in some key districts. Now she has taken a chance to move the state’s highest court to the left after it struck down congressional and legislative maps to aid Republicans in the state—and instead, she’s alienating key allies to keep the court in the hands of conservatives.
Hochul has pressed hard, rallying Latino groups to support LaSalle—who would be the first Latino chief judge on the Court of Appeals—and bringing out House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to support her pick. Notably, a number of Latino state senators were among the early opposition to LaSalle’s nomination, though.
“Latinos deserve representation at the highest levels of the legal system, but we also need courts that respect workers and the right to organize,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos said in a late December statement. “We can’t compromise our values.”
Ahead of the Judiciary Committee vote, Hochul’s office made moves to hire a litigator with the plan of suing the Senate to force a vote by the full chamber. She has argued that the “constitution of the State of New York is clear: the New York State Senate has to advise and consent the governor on her appointment.” And, she claims, the Judiciary Committee isn’t good enough. (In which case, why even have a committee vote as part of the process?)
LaSalle is not Hochul’s only option here, and she’s taking all the wrong lessons from her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, if she thinks that forcing New York Democrats to submit to her will as she tries to keep significant pieces of the state government solidly on the right is the best way to operate. The idea that she would take the state Senate to court to force a vote in which she’d have to rely on Republican votes, rather than accepting the Judiciary Committee vote, is appalling. And it’s not going to make her stronger as a leader, if that’s what she’s imagining. It’s time for Hochul to move on to the next name on her list. And this time, make it a progressive.
On the first episode of season two of The Downballot, we're talking with Sara Garcia, the strategy and outreach manager at Crooked Media—home of Pod Save America—about everything her organization does to mobilize progressives and kick GOP ass. Sara tells us how Crooked arose to fill a void in the media landscape, how it not only informs listeners but also gives them tools to take action, and some of her favorite shows that she loves to recommend to folks.
Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also discuss the Republican shitshow currently unfolding in Congress—and starkly different outcomes in two state legislatures that just elected new House speakers via bipartisan coalitions; the landslide win for the good guys in a special election primary in Virginia; why George Santos faces serious legal trouble that will very likely end with his resignation; and the massive pushback from progressive groups and labor unions against Kathy Hochul's conservative pick to be New York's top judge.