Queens Justice Cheree Buggs tapped for Appellate Term

Supreme Court Justice Cheree Buggs is taking up the Appellate Term, Second Department bench, effective immediately. Photo courtesy of Buggs

By Rachel Vick

Queens Supreme Court justice Cheree Buggs is taking on a new role in New York City’s courts.

Buggs ended the first week of the new year with the news that she had been selected to fill an opening on the Appellate Term, Second Department left by the retirement of Hon. David Elliot. She is only the third African-American judge from Queens to serve at the appellate level, and the first from Queens to serve on the Appellate Term.

“I’m very excited about my elevation,” Buggs told the Eagle. “I thought it would be something that would make my judicial experience [more] fulfilling and I was honored to be selected.”

Buggs will still preside over her usual Supreme Court cases, as the Appellate Court handles appeals from lower court rulings.

She’ll be drawing from her experience serving on the Civil Court bench, where she was first elected in 2007, and from being assigned to cover arraignments, she said.

“I'm happy to continue the work I'm doing on the Supreme Court and to be part of making decisions on appeals of the lower court — ‘the people’s court,’” Buggs said. “I’m looking forward to learning more about the matters that haven't been a regular part of my judicial experience, and am looking forward to learning and growing.”

For now, she’ll remain based out of Queens as Appellate proceedings continue virtually due to pandemic safety precautions but said she is prepared to take her expertise to the Brooklyn courthouse “when it comes time, and I trust at some time we’ll get there.”

“I’m ready,” she added. “I’m open to whatever the experience is; I don’t know everything I'll be encountering but am open to new [challenges]. We’ll find out what they are as we go forward.”

The Bayside-born judge’s level of preparedness is far from new. She was ahead of her classmates when she started at Benjamin Cardozo High School at 12 years old and when graduating law school at 20.

Buggs has worked in various parts of the Court System, but said she is determined to remain laser focused on her job facilitating justice for the people who appear before her.

“For me the most important thing is to stay focused on what my job is, what I’m charged with and what I'm doing,” she told the Eagle in October 2021. “People care that excellence is my aim.”