Here are the 46 judges being terminated by the New York court system
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the Queens Supreme court, civil term building. eagle photo by david brand
By David Brand
A decision by New York court leaders to terminate nearly every judge over age 70 in the state will have a particular impact in the Bronx, where more judges will lose their jobs than in any other county in the state.
In Queens, six state Supreme Court justices over 70 were not recertified as part of an effort to trim the state’s judiciary budget. Six state judges were not recertified in Manhattan and four were not recertified in Nassau County. Eight Appellate Division judges across three Judicial Departments will lose their jobs.
Overall, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore and the Office of Court Administration’s Administrative Board denied recertification to 46 of the 49 judges who applied across New York. Under state law, Supreme Court justices are required to apply for recertification and undergo cognitive exams every two years after turning 70 until they reach a mandatory retirement age of 76.
The nearly four dozen terminations that take effect Dec. 31 have nothing to do with cognition. They are a cost-cutting scheme for a court system seeking to slash 10 percent of its budget, or $300 million, said Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks in a memo to administrative judges across the state Sept. 29.
“This extremely difficult but necessary determination will save the court system more than $55 million over the next two years,” Marks said. “This will far better help enable the court system to avoid layoffs, or greatly reduce the number of layoffs should that extreme measure become unavoidable.”
OCA shared the list of the judges with Eagle, which first reported on the Queens-specific terminations Sept. 30.
See the list of judges, organized by county:
Several judges said OCA could have waited until after the November election to make the decision because a Joe Biden victory and a Democratic-controlled Senate could mean more federal funding for New York to plug its budget holes.
“Franky, I’m shocked and extremely disappointed with this ill advised decision,” retired Queens Supreme Court, Civil Term Administrative Judge Jeremy Weinstein told the Eagle. “The courts will be decimated and it will take years to restore it to its current levels.”
Weinstein oversaw the three Queens Civil Term judges who were not recertified. Three Criminal Term judges were also pushed out, while at least two others chose to retire rather than apply for recertification.
“Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has made excellence and efficiency a hallmark of her administration and, in my judgement, the courts were well on its way to meeting her high standards, now I fear that that is impossible,” he said.
The decision to let go of judges over 70 has already had unintended consequences in Queens, where four Black men preside in Criminal Supreme Court. Two will retire at the end of the year, while a third, Justice Daniel Lewis, was not recertified by the state. That will leave one Black man on the bench in a criminal courthouse where 38 percent of defendants are Black.
The Bronx led all counties in soon-to-be-terminated judges, with eight.
Judges losing their jobs in the Bronx include Civil Term Justices Ben Barbato, Robert Johnson, Donald Miles, Howard Sherman and Fernando Tapia. Three Criminal Term Justices, Lester Adler, Steven Barrett and Nicholas Iacovetta, will also be let go.
The Queens judges who were denied recertification include Civil Term Justices Bernice Siegal, Joseph Esposito and Maureen Healy and Criminal Term Justices Richard Buchter, Ira Margolis and Daniel Lewis.
Five of the Manhattan Supreme Court judges losing their jobs all preside in Civil Term. They are Justices Lucy Billings, Kathryn Freed, Robert Kalish, Joan Madden and Alan Marin. Criminal Term Justice Michael Obus was not recertified either.
One Brooklyn Justice, Larry Martin, and one Staten Island Justice, Orlando Marrazzo, Jr., were not recertified,
While the vast majority of judges over 70 were not recertified, three high-ranking Appellate judges were recertified because they have “additional assignments that are important to the court system,” said OCA spokesperson Lucian Chalfen.
Appellate Division, First Department Administrative Judge Angela Mazzarelli was granted recertification because she serves on several task forces and commissions; Appellate Term, First Department Justice Carol Edmead presides over a “complex” caseload and matters of election law; and Appellate Term, Second Department Administrative Judge Jerry Garguilo is handling a large civil opioid trial, Chalfen said.
Chalfen said OCA leaders were forced to make the decision to cut the 46 judges and their judicial staff because the court system faces a 10 percent budget reduction. The 46 judges represent about 3.5 percent of the state’s nearly 1,400 judges.
Newly elected justices will fill some of the seats being lost, he said.
“While the loss of the certificated Judges will have significant impact, over the past seven months the court system remained functioning, it never closed, and operations were reimagined virtually overnight, with Judicial, non-judicial employees and Court Officers all stepping up and maintaining essential functions,” he told the Eagle.
