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ALBANY----The Assembly Judiciary Committee will conduct a series of statewide public hearings to examine the manner by which justices of the New York State Supreme Court are nominated to ensure that judges are highly qualified, diverse, independent, and possessed of superior legal scholarship and temperament.
Members of the committee, chaired by Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, also would take testimony on the impact of the decision recently issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) in Lopez-Torres v. Board of Elections and what steps the state may be required to take in order to comply with the Court's ruling.
The first of the three statewide hearings will be held in New York on Wednesday Nov. 15, at 10:30 a.m. at the New York County Lawyers Association, 14 Vesey Street.
Hearings also will be held in Rochester on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at noon at the Council Chamber, Rochester City Hall, and in Albany on Friday, Dec. 15, at 9:30 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building, Hearing Room C.
In Lopez-Tores v. New York State Board of Elections, the Court invalidated much of the state's judicial nominating system, ruling it was in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and that until the current system is modified by the Legislature, Supreme Court justices would be subject to nomination through direct primary elections.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the forum will look at several suggested methods of selecting Supreme Court justices, including how the current judicial nominating convention system could be retained but modified to address the constitutional infirmities identified by the court and enacting a statute to establish a primary election system for Supreme Court justices that would allow public campaign financing for candidates, in whole or in part. Silver noted that the Assembly has already approved legislation to enact a system of partial public campaign financing for all judges of courts of record (the Judicial Campaign Finance Reform Act).
The hearing also will address whether a statute or constitutional amendment should be enacted to require that no person could be nominated for judicial office unless they have been found to be well qualified for the office by an independent judicial screening panel. The Assembly has twice passed legislation to establish such an independent screening panel for Supreme Court justices and for appointed members of the judicial branch.
In addition, the forum will review the possibility of a constitutional amendment that would call for the appointment of Supreme Court justices by designated executive officials without nominating conventions or popular elections. 11-05-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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