Senate leader defends LaSalle rejection following lawsuit
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Senate Democratic Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins defended her decision to reject the nomination of Hector LaSalle for chief judge in the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. Screenshot via Stewart-Cousins’ office
By Jacob Kaye
Several days after a lawsuit was filed against the Senate over the decision to kill the chief judge nomination of Hector LaSalle in committee, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said on Tuesday that she remains steadfast in her belief that she, and her Senate colleagues, did nothing wrong.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Stewart-Cousins said that she didn’t “even understand” why Republican State Senator Anthony Polumbo brought the lawsuit against the majority leader, the Senate and the 10 members of the Judiciary Committee who voted against advancing LaSalle’s controversial nomination last month.
“We're entitled to make our rules,” Stewart-Cousins said. “I'm disappointed, but the reality is that I think it was pretty clear in the committee meeting the votes were not there for Judge LaSalle.”
Ten senators, including all Queens members of the committee, voted against sending LaSalle’s nomination for chief judge to the full Senate for a vote. Seven members, including Polumbo, voted to send LaSalle to the full Senate without issuing a recommendation. Two members, both Democrats, voted in support of the nomination.
On Thursday, Polumbo filed a lawsuit in Suffolk County Supreme Court alleging that the Senate had not fulfilled its judicial nomination duty as set forth in the state’s constitution by rejecting LaSalle in the Judiciary Committee following a five-hour hearing – an argument that was echoed by Governor Kathy Hochul in the days following the rejection.
The lawsuit calls on a judge to order the Senate to take a full vote on LaSalle.
When asked whether or not she would bring LaSalle’s nomination up for a full Senate vote to make the lawsuit moot, Stewart-Cousins said that she would consider it and added that if she did, there likely wouldn’t be enough votes to confirm LaSalle as the state’s next chief judge of the Court of Appeals.
“We're talking about what our options are,” Stewart-Cousins said.
“There were two ‘yes’ votes out of 19 [in the Judiciary Committee], and I don't have any reason to think that that would change,” the top Senate Democrat added. “I don't believe that the judge would have the votes even if it were to go on the floor.”
The rift between all three branches of New York’s government comes as the governor and legislature begin negotiations on the state’s budget.
Stewart-Cousins said Tuesday that while she and Hochul spoke about the budget prior to Hochul’s executive budget announcement in late January, the two have not spoken since. However, the majority leader downplayed any potential tension brewing between the pair as a result of the LaSalle fight.
“It's fine, it's all cordial,” she said. “It’s not like we usually are talking every day – it's not unusual for us not to be talking to each other all the time.”
“But certainly when we speak it's always very, very, very cordial,” she added. “We get along.”
Even with the ongoing litigation, LaSalle’s nomination remains in limbo.
The Court of Appeals, which is being led by acting Chief Judge Anthony Cannataro, is currently in session with six judges seated.
Hochul has argued that because she believes LaSalle’s nomination has not been formally ended, a new vacancy, which must first be announced by the Court of Appeals, cannot be declared.
The suit will be heard in court later this week.
