Constitution 2, Senate 0
In knocking down the cockamamie legal theory of the ruling state Senate Democrats that the full chamber need not vote on gubernatorial nominees for the state’s highest court, Suffolk County state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Whelan cited Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Wilson and Joseph Story in upholding the primacy of the New York Constitution.
As you know, Jefferson was author of the Declaration of Independence and Madison the main man behind the U.S. Constitution. Wilson signed both charters of freedom and was one of the original U.S. Supreme Court justices. Story served for 33 years on the high court in its early decades.
Against those Founding Fathers are state Sens. Mike Gianaris and Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who contend that Senate rules are all that matters. Sorry gents, you are wrong, as Whelan made clear. Maybe the senators and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins should have realized that when they took an oath to the state Constitution and not to the Senate rules.
The victorious plaintiff (beside the people of New
York and their Constitution) is GOP Sen. Anthony Palumbo. Good for him, but it should have been Gov. Hochul who brought the suit when the Senate refused a floor vote on her nominee for chief judge of the Court of Appeals, Hector LaSalle. Palumbo’s lawsuit forced the vote, which defeated LaSalle, but still Stewart-Cousins claimed the roll call was purely discretionary. It was not.
This was no Republican plot against the Democrats, as the minority party can’t make the majority do anything, but the Constitution can. And prominent Democrats like Hochul, Mayor Adams, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were all correct that the Senate was required to vote and LaSalle should have been confirmed.
Last year, the courts found that the Senate violated the state Constitution on redistricting, also orchestrated by Gianaris. That blunder cost Jeffries from being House speaker. The Constitution means what it says, which has always been our point. If you don’t like it, change it. We supported that also, urging yes to a constitutional convention in 2017.