State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal on how Kathy Hochul’s office sold Hector LaSalle's nomination to skeptical Democrats, why he voted against LaSalle, and his fear that Albany is sliding toward a constitutional crisis. A conversation with nia_prater
to be the next chief judge of the Court of Appeals, hoping he would make history as the first Latino person to lead the state’s highest court. But his selection was immediately contentious among members of the governor’s own party, who criticized past rulings that he made as an appellate judge for being too conservative in their minds. On Wednesday, the state Senate’s Judiciary Committeeafter questioning LaSalle for nearly five hours.
There were some early indications even before the governor made her choice that LaSalle would receive some pushback. Knowing that, why do you think she decided to go with LaSalle rather than another potential nominee? Well, I think the committee members were open to conversations with the governor. Many of us had not announced our vote in advance, including me, including our leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. And I think when you get a call on your phone and it says “Unknown Caller” and you pick it up and it’s Kathy Hochul, you definitely listen. Or when the governor summons you to her office on the second floor of the capitol.
So, case after case after case he was asked about, he claimed he was bound by precedent even though there were dissenters on the bench and even though he never explained, along with the majority, their thinking. Most of the cases that are reviewed by his court are a page or fewer of discussion. In some cases, two or three sentences.
Secondly, it’s certainly not unheard of for members of committees to announce their support or opposition to either nominees or bills before a hearing takes place. Many of them had met with him in advance, had read cases, had met with advocates on both sides, and spoken to the governor herself. I think they were certainly within their rights to articulate where they sit.
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