The Norwalk Hour

Yale law professor up for New York's top judge spot

- By Jordan Nathaniel Fenster

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.

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. She has a home in New York City, but works for the New Haven-based school.

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.”

Gluck is a finalist and, as Ginsberg, a partner at the law firm of Harris Beach, 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 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.

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
Gluck

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States