Republicans sue to force full New York State Senate to vote on Hector LaSalle as head of Court of Appeals
NEW YORK -- The other shoe has dropped in the fight over the nomination of Judge Hector LaSalle to head the state's top court.
Republicans have sued to forced the full Senate to weigh in after the Judiciary Committee turned thumbs down on Gov. Kathy Hochul's nominee.
If Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Hoylman-Sigal thought he had seen the last of LaSalle, well, Republicans are saying think again.
Sen. Anthony Palumbo, the ranking Republican on Judiciary, filed suit in an attempt to give Hochul's pick to be chief judge of the state Court of Appeals another bite at the apple. He wants all 63 senators to consider the nomination after the the Judiciary Committee voted 10-9 against confirming him.
"Justice LaSalle is entitled to an up or down vote by the full state Senate, not as a courtesy, but because the constitution requires it," Palumbo said in a statement.
The suit names the 10 Democrats on the committee who voted against LaSalle, plus Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins.
Republicans were upset at the result because LaSalle, who would have been the first Latino to head the top court, was nixed because Democrats thought he was too conservative. They want a progressive to serve as a counter balance to the right-leaning U.S. Supreme Court.
Sen. Hoylman-Sigal lambasted him for once accepting the cross endorsement of the Conservative Party, a time-honored tradition when many jurists run with multi-party lines.
"The Conservative Party also supports radical right Supreme Court rulings against women, immigrants, workers, the environment, so I'm extremely shocked and disappointed that you would have at any point during you career thrown your lot in with them," Hoylman-Sigal said on Jan. 18.
"I make decisions based on the law and I apply the law the same to everyone," LaSalle said.
Some Democrats tried to make it seem like Hochul had made a deal with the Republicans to do her bidding, but Republican sources told CBS2 it had nothing to do with the governor. The suit seeks to challenge the constitutionality of the committee's actions.