The judge carnival
Starting tonight, on a Brooklyn golf course, this year’s crop of the most important trial court justices — for New York state Supreme Court — will be created. Welcome to the Democratic Party’s boss-run, anti-democratic, judicial nominating conventions, being held in 13 jurisdictions between now and next Wednesday.
The 13 is not to be unlucky, but rather the number of judicial districts. But don’t confuse that with the number of judicial departments, which is four. If you’re confused, you are supposed to be.
The GOP also has these same ridiculous affairs, where delegates rubber-stamp the choices of the local leadership to appear on the November ballot. That means in the city (except for Staten Island), only the Dems matter. It’s structured in state law this way to avoid primaries where real voters make the choices. And unfortunately, it’s all legal. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided in 2008 that this horrible system was constitutional, though as Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, crediting Thurgood Marshall: “The Constitution does not prohibit legislatures from enacting stupid laws.”
There are 350 of these justices, who serve 14year terms. That’s longer than the other 1,000 judges in the state. The supremes get paid the most, $210,900, and only they can seek permission to serve past age 70. That extra time, up to age 76, is a privilege, not a right, which a terrible bill that the Legislature passed and Hochul vetoed last year would have turned it into. The Legislature passed it again this year and Hochul should veto it again.
The Legislature created 14 more of these plums this year, and the pols get to fill them now. In Brooklyn, there are 10 vacancies, two of them brand new. Word is that Susan Quirk, daughter of notorious court officers union boss Dennis Quirk, is a good bet for one slot. That she lives on Staten Island is of no bother to the Brooklyn machine.
Quirk’s sworn enemy, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, saw her own daughter get one of these spots in Westchester in 2020. What’s good for the gander is good for the goose.