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Progressive Rowan Wilson Nominated to Lead NY's Highest Court [1]

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Date: 2023-04-10  

The nomination of Judge Wilson to be Chief Judge should be celebrated. Judge Wilson, who has been an Associate Judge on the Court since 2017 and would be the first Black Chief Judge if confirmed, has developed a reputation as a staunch progressive, powerful intellect, and engaging writer. Left-leaning groups who led the opposition to Hochul’s prior choice, Hector LaSalle (whose nomination was defeated both in the Senate Judiciary Committee and in a full Senate vote forced by the GOP) have praised the choice.

x PRESS STATEMENT: The Court New York Deserves Celebrates the Nomination of Hon. Rowan D. Wilson for Chief Judge pic.twitter.com/72N5y4N8d7 — Center for Community Alternatives (@CCA_NY) April 10, 2023

Judge Wilson’s elevation would represent a major victory for progressives. The Chief Judge position in New York is a powerful office with a dual role as both a judge on the Court of Appeals and the head administrator of the state’s court system. Further, the Chief Judge is highly influential with respect to future court nominations, so in the coming years the state can expect the judiciary to start to reflect Judge Wilson’s priorities, just as his predecessor, former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, shaped New York courts in her own image before him.

Judge Wilson’s nomination also marks a clear rebuke of his predecessor, who resigned abruptly last summer. Judge DiFiore was reviled across wide swaths of the Democratic Party (when she resigned, House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries issued a two-word press release: “good riddance”), as under her leadership New York’s highest court had taken a discouraging regressive turn. Judge Wilson (and Judge Jenny Rivera) fought it every step of the way, writing (or joining) passionate dissents on virtually every bad case the court handed down. Replacing a conservative with a progressive critic is certainly a rebuke, but the story does not end there. There were signs that DiFiore had attempted to manipulate the judicial selection process to ensure she was succeeded by a like-minded replacement. Judges Wilson, Rivera, and Troutman (a moderate who sometimes dissented from the conservative DiFiore bloc and was widely viewed as a likely Hochul choice for Chief Judge), were all omitted from the shortlist to succeed DiFiore despite being among the most obviously qualified applicants. DiFiore’s efforts were foiled, however, when the state senate defeated Hochul’s initial choice to be Chief Judge, the regressive former prosecutor Hector LaSalle. After LaSalle’s nomination failed, the process started anew and the next shortlist, which included Judges Wilson and Troutman, did not have such telltale signs of manipulation. Elevating Wilson to be Chief Judge, when DiFiore appears to have tried to wield her influence to prevent this from happening, is a clear rebuke of her efforts.

If confirmed as Chief Judge, Wilson would vacate an Associate Judge position, and Governor Hochul announced today that she intends to nominate Caitlin Halligan to that position. Halligan clerked for Stephen Breyer at the Supreme Court of the United States and was the Solicitor General for the State of New York. She was nominated by the Obama Administration to the D.C. Circuit (often viewed as the second most powerful court in the country and a stepping stone to the U.S. Supreme Court), but was successfully filibustered by the GOP. Since her failed nomination to the D.C. Circuit, Halligan has worked as general counsel for the Manhattan DA’s office and in private practice. While her record is a mixed bag, she is likely to be substantially more liberal than either the person she is replacing or Governor Hochul’s previous nominee.

While there is reason to celebrate the elevation of Judge Wilson (if confirmed) to Chief Judge, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of Halligan. She would be the fourth judge (out of seven total on the Court) with a prosecutorial background, having worked as general counsel to regressive former Manhattan DA Cy Vance. She also spent years as a litigator for a large law firm and advanced some regressive positions on behalf of powerful clients. For example, she argued a case at the Supreme Court trying to excuse a large company from discriminating against pregnant workers. While this is concerning, Halligan has also taken several encouraging positions in her role as advocate, including defending the constitutionality of New York City’s rent control statutes. As this summary of her resume, curated by the organization at the center of the LaSalle fight demonstrates, it really is a mixed bag. In short, it really is impossible to tell at this point where Halligan will land, in terms of ideology, once she is interpreting the law as a judge as opposed to advocating a position for a client.

Assuming these nominees are confirmed, New York’s court will be delicately balanced, with 2 liberals (Judges Wilson and Rivera), 1 moderate (Judge Troutman), 3 conservatives (Judges Garcia, Singas, and Cannataro), and 1 unknown (Halligan). Had Hector LaSalle been confirmed by the senate, the state would have been consigned to a conservative high court through 2030. Now, with Halligan taking the seventh seat, she and Troutman will be the swing votes. While Democrats would surely prefer a progressive majority, a court with a moderate swing vote (or two) is a big win compared to what the alternative looked like a few months ago. This is a step in the right direction and, although there are reasons to be concerned about Halligan, Judge Wilson’s elevation to chief judge puts progressives in a much better position to take more steps in the right direction over the coming years.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/10/2163181/-Progressive-Rowan-Wilson-Nominated-to-Lead-NY-s-Highest-Court

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