A bill for the judge-picking commission's omission

Daily Point

Panel a ‘middleman’ — or protection from hacks?

The eyebrow-raising proposal in Albany to get rid of the state’s Commission on Judicial Nomination — which decides whom a governor may pick for the top Court of Appeals — was described by one Democratic consultant as “a way to cut out the middleman.”

If voters approve this constitutional amendment after two straight legislatures pass it, a governor could reach past all outsiders’ recommendations and have a free pick of nominees to send to the State Senate for confirmation to the state’s top court. In this case, that so-called “middleman” commission marked a key part of a widely heralded constitutional change in the last century from an elected Court of Appeals to an appointed one, to assure the quality and professionalism of those chosen.

It opens a whole new front on the already hot national judge-picking debate.

On a political level, the proposal announced by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Tuesday marks a continued repudiation by left-wing Democrats of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the chief judge he’d picked, Janet DiFiore. She left the bench last year, before her term was up and after the uproar caused by the top court’s rejection of the legislature’s 2022 election maps.

Using the commission process, Gov. Kathy Hochul tapped Appellate Division Justice Hector D. LaSalle to succeed DiFiore. The Senate rejected him. For that round, Cuomo and DeFiore had selected key commission members. For the next effort, Hochul chose a candidate from a new list, Associate Judge Rowan Wilson.

“Yes,” the consultant added, “there is an analogy to the president’s freedom to pick Supreme Court judges on his own.”

Clearly, the State Senate could get more clout, too, by suggesting nominees to the governor and stating in advance whom the majority would confirm. And would it allow the chamber to essentially groove politically desirable decisions from a court majority in advance?

Former State Sen. John Faso, a past Republican candidate for statewide office, said that if the change suggested by Stewart-Cousins is approved, “it would revert us to the cronyism that the earlier constitutional amendment was intended to eliminate when we had elected judges.

“The commission is created to vet applicants, judge their qualifications, and select a panel of seven people that could be submitted to a governor. It’s a means of trying to insulate the process from politics to the greatest extent possible,” he said.

Faso called it “shocking” that “a group that wants transparency and reform” would look to reverse a significant reform carried out a half-century ago.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Leaks all over

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Quick Points

The good, the bad, and the Mad

• Angela Pollina was “distraught” and “bewildered” that she was convicted for her role in the killing of 8-year-old Thomas Valva in 2020 and not ready to accept a lengthy prison term. Then she was sentenced to 25 years to life. Now she knows accountability, too, can be painful.
• As Nashville’s governing council voted to return Justin Jones to the Tennessee legislature after Republicans expelled Jones for his part in a gun-control protest, a spokesman for GOP House Speaker Cameron Sexton said that whomever the council appointed to fill the vacancy would be seated as required by the state constitution. Now they take the high road?
• The good news: Suffolk County’s cybersecurity chief thought some county employees were engaged in illegal bitcoin mining back in 2017. The bad news: The county didn’t notify the district attorney until 2021. This time, the bad outweighed the good.
• To retaliate for Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, China sent dozens of warships and fighter planes toward Taiwan as part of three days of “combat readiness patrols.” Doesn’t exactly sound like tit for tat.
• A much-criticized recommendation from Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that young men not get vaccinated for COVID-19 omitted critical information that catching the virus increases the risk of cardiac-related deaths much more than getting the vaccine. So, the opinion not only was controversial, it was wrong.
• A bill to make Sept. 11 a federal holiday has been introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from New York. Which is only appropriate since the violence that day killed a bipartisan group of victims, many from New York.
• His work led to the conviction of Nazi war criminals and his advocacy for a war tribunal led to the creation of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. RIP, Benjamin Ferencz, the last of the Nuremberg prosecutors.
• He drew the renowned fold-in, provided snappy answers to stupid questions, created a host of mad inventions, was perhaps the most usual among the usual gang of idiots, and as Mad Magazine’s longest-serving contributor still drawing cartoons in his 90s was the voice of a countercultural generation. RIP, Al Jaffee.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie