Yale law professor up for N.Y. top judge spot

“From the beginning of her legal career, Abbe Gluck has distinguished herself by focusing on the role played by and the needs of state courts.”

Judith Resnik, Yale law professor

Abbe Gluck, a law professor at Yale, is one of a few finalists to be nominated for chief judge of New York State’s appellate court, the highest court in the state.

It’s rare for a judge from out-ofstate to be considered for the role, though Yale law professor William Eskridge said there are few candidates with Gluck’s experience.

“Professor Gluck knows more about statutory interpretation than anyone else in America,” he said. “Her opinions would be models of rigor, clarity, and judicial neutrality.”

Gluck clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She worked for then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his administration, and was White House counsel for President Joe Biden’s COVID response team.

At Yale, among other positions, Gluck is the founding faculty director for the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy.

“From the beginning of her legal career, Abbe Gluck has distinguished herself by focusing on the role played by and the needs of state courts,” said Yale law professor Judith Resnik. “Professor Gluck has worked for state and local government, as well as the federal government, and she has been a leader in those jobs and at Yale Law School in forging consensus so as to generate useful policies that respond to the needs of people from all walks of life. I have seen Professor Gluck’s patient and thoughtful engagement with students and faculty, her outreach across disciplines and politics, and her talent at producing judicious outcomes.”

Despite all that experience, Brian Ginsberg said it’s rare for an out-of-state-judge to be nominated.

“I’m actually not sure if anyone has ever been nominated from out of state,” said Ginsberg, a partner at the law firm of Harris Beach, working specifically in the appellate practice group. Before that, he was an assistant New York State solicitor general working in the elite unit of the New York Attorney General’s Office.

Gluck is a finalist and, as Ginsberg explained, the process is not a simple one. She was named by the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination, which selected a seven-member short list. Those on the short list will then be interviewed by various groups until New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul selects an official nominee, who will then be put before the New York State Senate for approval.

But even getting this far is rare for an academic, and an out-ofstate attorney. Ginsberg, looking through a list of previous finalists, said, “I didn’t see anyone else shortlisted from out of state much less for any court of appeals position, much less for a chief judge of position.”

The job for which Gluck is being considered is more than that of a judge. “The technical name is ‘chief judge of the State of New York,’” Ginsberg said.

The judicial commission, Ginsburg said, is most likely going through everything Gluck has written and published, “to try to determine is this someone who could be a good chief judge for all New Yorkers, is this someone who will dig into every case and decide it based upon the facts and the law, free from power and politics?”

“That would be a criterion for any judge,” he said. “Additionally, as the chief judge, the commission on judicial nomination, I would imagine, would ask, ‘Is this a person who can sit at the helm, not only of the highest court of the state of New York, which is the Court of Appeals, but of the entire New York state judicial system?’”

Gluck