ALBANY — State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said Tuesday that her supermajority wants to amend the state Constitution to eliminate a panel charged with vetting picks to New York’s highest court.
“I think the majority of us really would like the executive to be able to name whomever it is and then we go through our process,” she told reporters at the Capitol.
The Commission on Judicial Nomination was empowered by a 1977 constitutional amendment to compile a list of qualified candidates for the Court of Appeals from which a governor can choose.
Stewart-Cousins’ idea would make the nomination process the same as at the federal level, where court picks are considered and reported out by the Senate Judiciary Committee before a confirmation vote by the full 100-member chamber.
Any amendment to the state Constitution must pass two successive Legislatures by majority votes before being put to ordinary New Yorkers to approve or reject in a referendum.
That means no change to the Court of Appeals could happen before 2025 at the earliest — a deadline Stewart-Cousins signaled her chamber wants to meet.
“We’ll do what we can in order to create the process we like,” she said.
A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) did not immediately comment about that chamber’s stance on amending the state Constitution to shake up judicial picks.
Albany Democrats have already made moves to change the process despite concerns that it could not withstand a court challenge.
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Legislation signed by Gov. Hochul earlier this week allows her to make two choices from the list of seven candidates for the open post of chief judge.
Hochul announced Monday the nomination of liberal Court of Appeals Associate Judge Rowan Wilson to fill the seat formerly held by Janet DiFiore, who resigned as chief judge last year amid a scandal.
The governor — whose first pick Hector LaSalle was blocked by progressive state senators concerned about his centrist record — says she will name liberal attorney Caitlin Halligan, a former state solicitor general, to the seat currently held by Rowan if he gets confirmed in the coming weeks.
That could solidify a liberal majority on a court dominated for years by conservatives.
Pending litigation backed by Hochul is challenging the congressional map that helped Republicans flip several swing House districts in 2022 after the right-leaning Court of Appeals threw out the so-called “Hochulmander” that favored Democrats.
Stewart-Cousins acknowledged Tuesday that Wilson’s dissent in that case will likely be scrutinized by state senators when they consider his nomination in upcoming weeks.
“We will set a hearing and those questions if people have them will arise,” she said.
“He’s obviously been very opinionated and he’s very prolific.”
