Former top judge says Senate violated constitution by rejecting LaSalle

Former top judge says Senate violated constitution by rejecting LaSalle

A former chief judge of the Court of Appeals – and a noted supporter of Hector LaSalle, the recently rejected nominee for chief judge – says the governor has a solid case to bring should she decide to sue the State Senate for failing to bring LaSalle’s nomination to the floor of the legislature.

Read More

Senate rejects governor's chief judge pick

Senate rejects governor's chief judge pick

Governor Kathy Hochul’s controversial nominee for New York State’s highest judicial position, Hector LaSalle, was rejected by the State Senate’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday following an unusually drawn out hearing, potentially setting the stage for a legal battle between the state’s top executive and the legislature.

Read More

City’s failure to get detainees to doctors continues, attys say

City’s failure to get detainees to doctors continues, attys say

The city’s Department of Correction has again been accused of not providing medical care to detainees after three law firms representing the incarcerated population on Rikers Island filed a motion to have a judge hold the agency in contempt for skirting its mandated duties.

Read More

Public defenders say Queens DA’s evidence sharing practices violate spirit of discovery reform

Public defenders say Queens DA’s evidence sharing practices violate spirit of discovery reform

The Legal Aid Society says that in the nearly three years since the state’s discovery reform laws went into effect, the Queens district attorney’s office has yet to create a logical and organized way to share evidence with criminal defense attorneys.

Read More

While some clemency reforms quietly take shape, advocates look to gov for more

While some clemency reforms quietly take shape, advocates look to gov for more

On Christmas Eve of last year, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she planned to reform the state’s clemency process, one which advocates have long said is antiquated and opaque. While a number of those reforms have begun to take shape in recent months, others, including the one advocates say is the most important, have yet to see the light of day.

Read More

Lawmakers call for ‘diverse’ pool of chief judge candidates

Lawmakers call for ‘diverse’ pool of chief judge candidates

The call for the Commission on Judicial Nomination to diversify the group of candidates for chief judge it will soon recommend to Gov. Kathy Hochul intensified after a group of nearly two dozen State Senators wrote to the commission this week.

Read More

Queens Dems nominate Supreme Court candidates as reformers question process

Queens Dems nominate Supreme Court candidates as reformers question process

The largely pro forma judicial convention to nominate Supreme Court justice candidates to the Queens County Democratic Party’s line in November was met with dissent this week by a group of New Reformer delegates.

Read More