Hochul's Pick for Chief Judge is in Limbo as Democrats Mount Opposition

Democrats continued to push back against Gov. Kathy Hochul’s nominee for New York’s next chief judge on Monday, saying it would be “easier” for the first-term governor to withdraw his name than move forward with the nomination.

Enough Democrats, at least 14, have now said they would vote against the nomination to block it — if it comes to the Senate floor. 

Hector LaSalle, Hochul’s nominee and the presiding justice of one of the state’s four appellate courts, is expected to get a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming weeks, though a date hasn’t been announced as of yet.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Westchester, said LaSalle’s fate was still up in the air, but that it would be “easier” for Hochul to pick someone else.

“That would clearly be easier,” Stewart-Cousins said. “But you know, that said, here we are.”

Progressive Democrats have taken issue with decisions LaSalle has either authored or signed on to that they’ve labeled as anti-union, anti-abortion, and favored toward prosecutors. Court analysts have pushed back on those characterizations, calling them exaggerated. 

“There are already three conservative judges on the court of appeals,” said Sen. Jabari Brisportt, D-Brooklyn. “Hector LaSalle will be number four and cement a conservative majority on the court of appeals for the next seven years up until 2030.”

Progressives have called on Hochul to scrap LaSalle and choose one of three judges who were on a shortlist provided to the governor by an independent commission — a process designed to eliminate total control over judges on the state’s highest court by the chief executive.

Those judges are Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, the current deputy chief administrative judge for Justice Initiatives, Yale Law School Professor Abbe Gluck, or Corey Stoughton, attorney-in-charge of special litigation and law reform at the Legal Aid Society. 

There have been suggestions at the Capitol that Republicans offer support to LaSalle to clear his nomination through the Senate. At current numbers, only a handful of Republicans would need to sign on to that idea for it to happen.

But Democrats in Albany don’t like to split their ranks on important votes. There is sometimes room for politically vulnerable Democrats to vote against the conference, but it’s rare for more moderate members to align with the minority party. 

Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt, R-Niagra, said Monday that his conference would be willing to engage in a discussion about an alliance on LaSalle — either with Hochul or moderates — but that such an agreement wasn’t in the works.

“I think Judge LaSalle both deserves a fair shot, and I think this conference, and I think the court, the judicial branch, is an important part of our government here,” Ortt said. “We are willing to at least consider supporting him.”

If he’s confirmed, LaSalle would be the first Latino chief judge of New York, a job that carries tremendous responsibility. Not only would he lead the state’s top court, the Court of Appeals, he would also be responsible for the entire state judiciary.

Democrats haven’t said when a hearing on his nomination would be held, but it’s expected in the coming weeks.