Changes in store for New York’s Court of Appeals with Wilson in charge and Halligan on the bench

ALBANY — Changes are coming to New York’s highest court.

After months of delays and political infighting among Democrats, the Court of Appeals finally has a full bench, a new chief judge and, some hope, a new direction.

Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, elevated to the state’s top judicial post last week after Gov. Hochul’s initial pick was rejected by Senate Democrats earlier this year, will now oversee and set the tone for the state’s sprawling court system.

Known for his legal acumen as well as his sharp, and at times witty writing style, Wilson is considered one of the more liberal jurists serving on the Court of Appeals. He is the first Black chief judge in state history.

The 62-year-old joined the bench as an associate judge in 2017 and often penned dissenting opinions rebutting majority rulings from former chief judge Janet DiFiore, who stepped down last summer.

Critics contend that the court took a rightward lurch under DiFiore’s leadership and they’re hoping Wilson, as well as the addition of associate judge Caitlin Halligan, will be the start of a new chapter for the Court of Appeals.

”Judge Wilson will bring honor to our court and will help lead our court in a new direction that will stand up for all New Yorkers,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westcheter) said just prior to Wilson’s confirmation vote on the chamber floor last week.

Wilson and Halligan both sought to assure lawmakers that politics won’t play a part in their decisions from the bench during confirmation hearings that included questions about past decisions and work they’ve done in the private sector.

Still, Wilson sought to set himself apart from his predecessor, telling members of the Senate Judiciary Committee he has a ”fundamentally different view” with regards to the number of cases the court should hear.

The court saw a dramatic reduction in cases under DiFiore, as Albany Law School professor Vincent Bonventre pointed out last year. In recent years, majority opinions from the conservative bloc of judges led by DiFiore were criticized for being short and often unsigned.

“We hope that the Court of Appeals grants more hearings to get their levels back up to where they were historically,” Sen. Sean Ryan (D-Buffalo), a member of the chamber’s judiciary committee, told the Daily News.

Ryan said he’s also hoping to see more “unified opinions” under Wilson’s leadership after years of divided decisions, which he described as a sign that the court wasn’t “functioning well.”

Wilson also signaled interest in expanding diversion and treatment courts, something progressive lawmakers have been pushing for as a way to curb congestion in the system and provide alternatives to incarceration.

Brian Ginsberg, a partner at Harris Beach PLLC and a former state assistant solicitor general, said Wilson is “well-situated for the chief judge’s leadership and managerial duties.”

He also said Wilson’s track record shows him to be an even-minded jurist who doesn’t play favorites.

“The proper role of a judge is to apply the law to the facts and reach a legally appropriate outcome without regard to how well or how poorly the outcome may be received in the political arena,” Ginsberg said.

Republicans railed against Wilson during a heated floor debate preceding his confirmation, taking particular aim at a Court of Appeals decision from last month that freed a convicted rapist over prosecutorial mishandling of the case.

Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-Suffolk) described Wilson as “an activist judge acting in a way that is contrary to common sense and the law.”

Republicans also accused Dems of attempting to pack the court with sympathetic judges as they again seek to have congressional lines redrawn ahead of the 2024 elections.

Democrats made clear following DiFiore’s resignation that they wanted to see judges with more diverse professional backgrounds on the state’s highest court after conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back abortion rights and reversed longstanding New York gun laws.

Wilson’s confirmation and the addition of Halligan, who served as state solicitor general from 2001 through 2007, come on the heels of Hochul’s first chief judge nominee, Hector LaSalle, being shot down by Senate Democrats in an unprecedented rejection.

Halligan’s nomination was made possible due to a Hochul-sought change that allowed her to choose two judges from the same short list from the Commission on Judicial Nomination, if a sitting judge on the Court of Appeals was elevated to chief judge.

“State courts are where the issues that are most important to the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers get decided,” Halligan told members of the Senate’s judiciary committee last week. “And it is where the scope of the New York constitution gets hammered out, a task that is especially important at a moment when federal courts appear to be pulling back on some key constitutional protections.”