|
ALBANY--The New York State Senate has passed legislation and sent it to the Assembly that would amend the way candidates for State Supreme Court Justices are selected by abolishing political party nominations by a judicial district convention and replacing it with a petition process that is similar to the selection process used by judges at the county level.
Passage of the Senate bill comes on the heels of a Jan. 27 decision by U.S. District Judge John Gleeson that deemed the current selection process unconstitutional because the selection of candidates through political conventions can be tightly controlled by party voices, depriving voters of their say in the process.
"Under the current system, the process is handled by delegates to a judicial district convention," said Sen. John DeFrancisco of Syracuse, bill sponsor. "However, the selection of these delegates is, in many cases, controlled by party leaders. This unfairly removes party voters from having a say in the process and it can potentially put Supreme Court nominations out of reach for several qualified candidates. This bill would preserve the integrity of the process by including the public in the selection process."
Presently, candidates for Supreme Court Justice are nominated by a judicial district convention. The delegates to that convention are designated by petitions circulated prior to the primary election. The delegates, designated by Assembly District within the judicial district, then meet in late September to designate a particular party's candidate for Supreme Court.
Under this legislation, the direct primary method would be used to designate candidates for nomination, ensuring that qualified candidates who may not have the backing of party leaders have access to the ballot. By eliminating the conventions and allowing party voters to have direct input into who their party's candidate will be, the bill provides a process which is essentially the same as that used for County level judges and protects the constitutional rights of the voters and candidates.
"While reform of the legislative process is important, reform of the judicial process is equally essential," said Sen. DeFrancisco.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and Common Cause/NY has released a letter of support for Senate Bill S55-A.
The two groups were instrumental in the landmark decision Lopez Torres v. NYS Board of Elections, which found the current convention system unconstitutional. The Brennan Center conducted the litigation, and Common Cause/NY was a lead plaintiff. Judge Gleeson issued a preliminary injunction, overturning the convention system and ordering primaries until the Legislature acts.
Calling the bill “an important first step in solidifying through legislation true reform of our State’s Supreme Court selection process,” the two organizations also urged the Legislature to enact public campaign financing for Supreme Court elections and to redraw the judicial district lines such that each county in New York State would become a separate judicial district. In the letter, the two organizations explained that public financing would get judicial candidates out of the business of raising campaign funds from lawyers and parties who appear before them, increasing public confidence in the courts, and improve the quality of the judiciary by expanding the pool of candidates who can run.
Smaller judicial districts would facilitate the candidates’ communications with voters about their qualifications, reduce the cost of campaigns, increase the opportunities for candidates of color to compete, particularly in counties with large urban centers such as Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, and Yonkers, and provide smaller counties upstate with new opportunities to elect Supreme Court justices. 2-21-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
|
