2 Black Judges On List Of Choices For Spot On Top NY Court
By Pete Brush
Law360, New York (March 07, 2013, 6:48 PM ET) -- Two African-American midlevel New York appellate judges were among seven nominees whose names were sent Thursday to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to replace Theodore T. Jones, the lone black judge who sat on the state's highest court until his death in November.
Judges Sheila Abdus-Salaam and Dianne T. Renwick, both judges in the First Department of the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division, were among seven candidates for the open New York State Court of Appeals spot. They were selected from a pool of 71 total applicants.
A third African-American nominee, Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP litigation partner Rowan D. Wilson, also appeared on the list of nominees.
The list is rounded out by Fourth Department Judge Eugene M. Fahey, Second Department Judge John M. Leventhal, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP libel and privacy law partner David A. Schulz and
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP litigation partner Maria T. Vullo.
"My colleagues on the commission and I were all devastated when we learned of Judge Jones' passing last fall," said former Chief Court of Appeals Judge Judith Kaye, who now chairs the panel tasked with seeking out qualified replacements. "But we were impressed by the highly qualified pool of candidates whose applications we have reviewed to fill his seat on the court."
Cuomo is to select his choice from the list in a maximum of 30 days. His pick must be approved by the New York State Senate. The eventual appointee will see the court operate with its full complement of seven judges for the first time in 2013.
The list heads to the governor's office less than a month after the state Senate — after a testy confirmation process — approved law professor Jenny Rivera to replace the court's lone Hispanic judge, Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, who faced mandatory retirement at the end of 2012.
Rivera — a Hispanic-American who became the first judge ever in the Empire State to leap straight to the Court of Appeals from academia — faced grilling from Senate Republicans over her lack of judicial experience, leading some to speculate that the governor would lean toward a sitting judge or law firm partner this time around.
Abdus-Salaam, Fahey and Schulz appeared on the previous list from which Rivera was selected.
There are no nominees on the list that leave the governor vulnerable to accusations related to a failure of judicial or business legal experience, according to Pace University law professor Randolph M. McLaughlin, who also works as of counsel on civil rights matters at Newman Ferrara LLP.
"The commission certainly gave the governor choices that would not put him in the same hot water he got in when he nominated Judge Rivera," McLaughlin said.
Proponents of diversity on the bench including McLaughlin have resisted the notion that there is a seat set aside for a black judge on the high court, but noted that the current reality, in a state with more than 3 million blacks, is that the court lacks a black judge.
"You have no African-Americans on the court. Do you think it's important to have an African-American on the court? I would say yes," McLaughlin said. "What's best for our judiciary and the public in terms of how judges come to their decisions? Should diversity of experience count? Yes."
The Commission on Judicial Nominees noted Thursday that of the 37 candidates who were interviewed as part of the application process, 15 were female and 15 were ethnic minorities.
--Editing by Andrew Park.