Senate Democrats reject Hochul’s nomination for New York’s top judge

ALBANY, N.Y. —The full Democratic-controlled state Senate spurned Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pick for chief judge, putting an end to weeks of a political stalemate that has baffled the state’s political observers by its seeming futility.

The state Senate voted 39-20 against Hector LaSalle’s confirmation on Wednesday, an outright rejection of the fellow Democratic governor that Senate leadership predicted as early as late December.

“The nomination was brought to the Senate floor, as has been requested for weeks, and unsurprisingly, it did not prevail. There should be no further questions on the viability of this nomination,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters after the vote.

Hochul, who had continued to push for LaSalle’s confirmation despite opposition, warnings and a committee rejection on Jan. 18, said she will now make a new nomination for Senate consideration from a list provided by the state’s Commission on Judicial Nomination.

“I remain committed to selecting a qualified candidate to lead the court and deliver justice,” she said in a statement. “That is what New Yorkers deserve.”

The governor painted Wednesday’s vote — though not in her favor — as “an important victory from the constitution,” but added that it was “not a vote on the merits of Justice LaSalle, who is an overwhelmingly qualified and talented jurist.”

Stewart-Cousins and her Senate counterparts expressed exasperation with the four weeks of waiting for Hochul to accept their determination after the 19-member Judiciary Committee rejected LaSalle in January. The outcome was the same, they said during floor debate on Wednesday, and both branches of government lost time and energy during weeks typically spent negotiating the $227 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts April 1.

“All this did, frankly, was underscore the value of the committee process and illustrate why it makes sense,” Stewart-Cousins said.

Hochul continued to push for LaSalle’s confirmation following the Judiciary Committee's rejection, saying that the state constitution required consideration from the full 63-member body. She threatened legal action, though never laid out any specific details.

Senate Republicans ultimately did it for her with a lawsuit in Suffolk County last week to try and force a full floor vote. So Stewart-Cousins ordered the full Senate vote on Wednesday. She maintained that the committee vetting process was the appropriate channel for the nomination, but a lawsuit would only prolong the vacancy at the top of the Court of Appeals following Janet DiFiore's resignation last summer.

The Senate is eager to vet a new candidate, she told reporters, but her conference is looking for a “visionary leader” and has now shown that it will be rigorous in its scrutiny.

The political play highlighted for the first time the Senate supermajority’s willingness to wield its power over Hochul, who is in her first year of a four-year term after she succeeded Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he resigned in 2021. It could signal an even rockier road ahead for the governor as she searches for her stride in legislative relations.

Hochul and Stewart-Cousins had a “cordial conversation” preceding the vote, Stewart-Cousins said, though they did not discuss what the governor “learned or didn't learn” from the experience.

“We both believe what we believe, but we also both understand the importance of being able to tackle the issue at hand, which again, is the budget, and we know that it is important that we work together, and we are committed to doing that,” she said.

No Democrats have emerged happy from the monthslong ordeal, but Senate Republicans are taking some credit for getting the process moving. The question that emerged had been whether the full Senate was required to vote on LaSalle or could the issue end with the vote in the Judiciary Committee, as Democrats contended.

“But for Senate Republicans and but for Senator (Anthony) Palumbo's lawsuit, this doesn't happen today. Governor Hochul didn’t do anything to make it happen,” Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt told reporters following the vote. Ortt maintained that a full floor vote was necessary for members of his conference to have a say in the nomination that they wouldn’t otherwise get from the Judiciary Committee, where Democrats control the outcome.

“We brought a lawsuit ... and I’m glad we did, because today was a victory for democracy, for the Constitution, and for the rule of law,” he said.

The lawsuit — though based on the specific circumstances surrounding getting the LaSalle nomination to a floor vote — will continue, he said. The first court date in Suffolk County is set for Friday.