NEW YORK STATE: Judicial selection process by Political Parties is ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Judge

Judicial selection process by Political Parties is ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Judge.

A Federal Judge ruled last night that the process of selecting State Supreme Court justices is unconstitutional. This is a major blow to the Backrooms & the Political Parties. The Judge ordered an immediate halt to backroom wheeling & dealing. The Federal Judge was John Gleeson from Brooklyn.

The judge is right in the fact, that the way parties pick Supreme Court Justices through having convention by sending party regulars as delegates. This is done with both the Democratic & Republican Parties. But people like Zehy Jereis, Yonkers GOP Leader & State Senator Nicholas Spano have used it for backroom deals many times. The Judge is also right that the State Legislature should enact a new system for selecting Judicial Candidates.

The question is does that the State Legislature have the guts to take politics out of selecting our Judiciary. Also don’t get me wrong, also the minor parties do it as well. The Conservative & Indpendence Parties of Westchester controlled by Senator Spano do the same thing of backroom deals. Giulio Cavallo, Westchester County Independence Party Leader was able to prevent Francis Nicolai from running for re-election for NYS Supreme Court Judge in 2004, because of his power to stop endorsements of these candidates for Supreme Court Judge.

We need a system to put in place, that helps people who do not enjoy support of the Party Bosses. But that these people are qualified to or want to run for State Supreme Court Judge. We need to put an end to Party Boss Politics. The Judiciary should be non-political & the selection should be non-political. A primary system put in place, so that the people could decide & not the Party bosses is a good idea. The State Legislature needs to act ASAP. So that we can have elections of Judges that are not political. How can we trust our judiciary, if it s political, when judges are supposed to be non-political. Let’s put an end to the likes of Jereis, Spano, Cavallo, Democratic Leaders. Republican Leaders, Conservative leaders, Indpendence Leaders & other parties take their power away in selecting our State Supreme Court Judges. We need to totally clean the process up from politics & give the people confidence in the way we select our judges. This is a way, that when judges make decisions. That there decisions can’t be questioned due to politics.

The Lawsuit came from nine people, a mix of Democrats and Republicans including Brooklyn Surrogate Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, who contended the current system cheats voters and blocks challengers who lack the support of the county bosses.

"The plaintiffs have demonstrated convincingly that local major party leaders ... control who becomes a Supreme Court justice and when," Gleeson wrote in a 77-page decision. "The result is an opaque, undemocratic selection procedure that violates the rights of the voters and the rights of candidates."

Gleeson issued an injunction striking down the convention system and directed that Supreme Court justices Should be nominated by primary elections until a new, unspecified system is in place.

"It's hard to think of a more revolutionary decision because it shifts our power to choose judges from our political leaders back to the people," said lawyer Burt Neuborn of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which represented the plaintiffs.

The decision was released at 5 p.m., catching party honchos off guard.

Brian Harrod

New York State Newswire Editor