Current Events > NY Governor Kathy Hochul is putting a lot of effort into pushing a shitty judge

(+) Yeah! (+)

There should have been no surprise to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that Hector LaSalle would become an unpopular pick to lead the states highest court.

Democratic leadership in the state Senate warned the newly-elected governor in early December that, of her seven-candidate shortlist for the judgeship, they could not guarantee the votes for LaSalle. Progressive members were deeply skeptical of the jurists values on abortion and labor rights.

Hochul nominated him anyway.

In doing so, the Democratic governor set up an unprecedented showdown with lawmakers over her choice for chief judge of the state Court of Appeals. She now faces the prospect this month that LaSalle will become the first top judicial nominee to ever be rejected by the state Senate.

The confirmation fight pits the moderate Hochul against the partys progressives, but it is also dividing Democrats both in and out of the state Senate. Some are calling for a fair hearing for LaSalle, who would be the states first Latino chief judge, and others are vehement in their opposition.

Progressives and labor leaders see the pick as a betrayal after many within their ranks worked to deliver vital last-minute votes to Hochul during the final frantic days of last years election. Some reluctant allies are regretting their decision.

She promised us that we would have a seat at the table, Jimmy Mahoney, the president of a statewide iron workers union, said at the state Capitol on Monday as labor leaders rallied against the nomination. She put us on the menu. This is not right. The way it was rolled out, it was so unprofessional and backstabbing.

At issue for the unions, progressive advocates and a coalition of liberal legal minds are a handful of decisions that LaSalle, who currently presides over the New York Supreme Courts Second Department in Brooklyn, had joined. Despite the larger nuances of the cases and their participants, opponents say the rulings suggest LaSalle does not support abortion and union rights.

One of the cases was related to a crisis pregnancy center that limited subpoena access to their promotional materials for an investigation by the state attorney general. Another involved Communications Workers of America and a companys ability to sue a union official as an individual.

LaSalles background as a former prosecutor does nothing to assure the left that he would forge a new path away from increasingly conservative-leaning decisions coming down from the states highest court, the members of which were all appointed by Hochul or her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.

Rather than pull the nomination, Hochul is preparing instead for her first big legislative battle as the state Senate Judiciary Committee gears up for a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Its possible the committee, newly bolstered with enough progressive senators to dismiss Hochuls pick, will let the nomination die without advancing it to a full Senate vote.

Hochul, on Thursday, said she believes that questioning during LaSalles hearing will convince doubters. But if the committee rejects LaSalle, she also left the door open to taking legal action in order to move the nomination to a vote in the full Senate, where she might be able to secure enough backers by pressuring both Democrats and Republicans.

Im willing to do everything I need to do to get it through the committee, Hochul told reporters after an event in Albany, saying that LaSalle has been horribly maligned based on the handful of cherry-picked cases.

Were going to let it run its course, she said. But I feel confident after the committee has a fair hearing that the process will play out.

No New York governor has had a nominee to the Court of Appeals rejected since governors were given the authority in the 1970s, and boiling tensions with the Legislature are hardly an ideal start to Hochuls first full term after she succeeded Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021, and won election in November. Hochul and her staff are now pressuring naysayers and undecideds, an exercise requiring a large political capital investment and maybe even an alliance with the GOP.

Whats baffled many in Albany is that Hochuls team didnt do the political legwork to shore up support beforehand.

She also killed the Right to Repair bill right before she was supposed to sign it.

Do not understand why the state of New York continues to elect the shittiest people possible

because they have a D next to their name.

Do not understand why the state of New York continues to elect the shittiest people possible

She wasn't elected.

Well, she did win an election after already being governor, but the alternative in that general was... Not preferable.

Why is she so damn fixated on installing that shitty judge? Is there someone she owes a favor for?

sure seems like she's trying to pay off a favor.

I don't even remember who it was.
Shits been so fucked up on the national level that sorta just NY do it's thing.

But with some local issues.
~Hell there was a cop-on-cop shooting where I'm at.

Bye bye

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