Queens Dems set ballot for Queens Supreme Court election

From left to right: Judge Michele Titus, Judge Karen Gopee, Assemblymember Vivian Cook, Justice David Butler, Judge David Kirschner, Rep. Gregory Meeks, Judge Laurentina McKetney Butler and election attorney Michael Reich. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

By Jacob Kaye

The Queens County Democratic Party’s judicial delegates gathered in Queens Village to nominate six judges to the party’s line to run for Queens Supreme Court in November Thursday night.

The party’s judicial convention unanimously nominated Judges Karen Gopee, Michele Titus, Laurentina McKetney Butler and David Kirschner. Current Supreme Court Justices Kenneth Holder and Denis Butler, both of whom will reach the end of their 14-year terms this year, were also nominated and will run for a second term on the bench.

“We’ve been through a lot in reference to criminal justice in our country,” Meeks said. “That's why this process is so important and that's why who we select as judges are so important. Because that's how you get justice –someone who’s fair and impartial and who's open to listen.”

“That’s the goal,” he added. “That we make sure that everybody in Queens County has the opportunity, god forbid they have to come to court, whether it's Civil or Criminal, they would have the opportunity to have a jurist from a background that may look like them, that may share their religion – that's important and we've got to continue to strive to make that happen.”

Thursday’s convention was without surprises. Recommended to the delegates by party Chair Rep. Gregory Meeks, the judges handed out their resumes before the convention was called into order, however their fate was predetermined.

Having received Meeks’ recommendation was more than enough to ensure they all received unanimous approval to the party’s line.

The only time the convention’s practiced parliamentary procedure was disrupted was when District Leader and Judicial Delegate Richard David invited Assemblymember and fellow Judicial Delegate Jenifer Rajkumar to say a few words on behalf of Gopee, who will become the first Indo—Caribbean person to serve in the New York Supreme Court if elected.

The former Presiding Judge of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department Randall Eng, who chaired the convention, briefly informed David he was out of order, only to quickly recant and allow Rajkumar to speak. Eng himself set historic precedent when he was first elected to the bench, becoming the first Asian American judge in the history of the state in 1983.

Now that the ballot is set, the six judges will run for a seat on the bench in Queens Supreme Court. They will likely face off against a set of judges nominated by the Queens County Republican Party, which will meet in the coming weeks to set their ballot.

Learn more about the judges nominated Thursday below.

Judge Karen Gopee

Gopee was first appointed to the Criminal Court bench by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2015.

The judge became the first-ever Indo-Caribbean person to serve as a judge in New York State and she would also become the first to serve in New York Supreme Court if elected.

Gopee’s Queens roots run strong – she received her law degree at St. John’s University School of Law in 1997.

For seven years, Gopee worked in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. She went on to serve as Judge Alex M. Calabrese’s principal court attorney until her appointment to the bench.

Gopee is the president of the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean Bar Association of Queens.

Judge David Kirschner

Kirschner was appointed to serve as an interim judge in Bronx County Civil Court by de Blasio in 2016. The mayor appointed him to Criminal Court a year later.

Prior to becoming a judge, Kirschner worked in the Bronx County District Attorney’s office as an assistant district attorney from 1989 to 1993.

He went on to run a solo practice as an attorney before returning to the DA’s office in 1999.

In 2007, Kirschner worked as a principal law clerk to Judges Lawrence H. Bernstein and Richard Lee Price from 2007 to 2008, and 2009 to 2016 respectively.

Kirschner is a member of the Queens County Bar Association, the Jewish Lawyers Guild and the Association of Criminal Court Judges among other organizations.

Judge Michele Titus

A former assembly member in District 31, Titus was elected to serve as a Civil Court judge in 2019 and assumed her seat on the bench in January 2020.

Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2002, Titus worked as an attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s office and served as the chief of staff for former-State Senator Ada Smith.

Titus has also worked as an attorney for the New York City Board of Education and the New York State Attorney General’s office.

Born in Queens, Titus attended undergrad at SUNY Binghamton and got her law degree at Albany Law School.

Judge Laurentina McKetney Butler

McKetney Butler was elected to Queens County Civil Court in 2015.

Before being elected, she worked as a principal law clerk in New York State Supreme Court from 2005 until 2013. McKetney Butler also served as a court attorney in the Civil Court of the City of New York from 2001 until 2012.

She received her law degree at New York Law School in 1994.

Justice Kenneth Holder

Holder, who has reached the end of his first 14-year term on the bench and currently serves in Queens Supreme Court, Criminal Term, was first elected to Supreme Court in 2008.

Prior to his election, he was elected to Queens Civil Court in 2006 but immediately assigned to Kings County Criminal Court.

Holder was one of the advocates for the Queens Treatment Court, which he helped establish in 1998 when he was working in the Queens district attorney’s office in the narcotics bureau.

Holder, who was born in London and has lived in Jamaica, Canada, Brooklyn and Queens, attended undergrad at Lincoln University, the oldest historically black college in the U.S.

He received his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law.

Justice Denis Butler

Butler, who like Holder has reached the end of his 14-year term as a Queens Supreme Court justice, was first elected to the court in 2008.

Prior to the Supreme Court, Butler served in the New York City Civil Court, Queens County – he was elected to the bench in 2002.

He spent the early part of his career working as a principal law clerk for Civil Court Judge Robert Kohm, Supreme Court Judge Robert Groh, Surrogate’s Court Judge Robert Nahman and Supreme Court Judge Timothy Flaherty.

Butler currently serves in the Civil Term and received his law degree at Fordham University, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree.