ALBANY — State Senate Democrats are preparing to hold a floor vote today on Justice Hector D. LaSalle’s nomination to serve as chief judge to the Court of Appeals, according to a source familiar with the conversations.
The move almost a week after the filing of a high-profile lawsuit pressing for a floor vote, and a month after the Senate’s Judiciary Committee rejected LaSalle’s nomination — a vote that Democrats previously claimed was the end of the road for the controversial nominee.
The floor vote, a parliamentary procedure that has been at the center of conflicting legal views pitting the governor against the Senate supermajority, could likely lead to a rejection of LaSalle. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has pledged her conference will reject the embattled nominee, whose elevation to the state’s high court has drawn opposition from various progressive groups and unions.
On Tuesday, Stewart-Cousins told reporters her conference was considering a floor vote, a move that she had been firmly against since the Jan. 18 committee vote against LaSalle. That rejection went 10-9, including two Democrats and seven Republicans in favor of sending the nomination to the floor.
A motion offered near the end of the committee meeting by ranking Republican Sen. Anthony H. Palumbo that would have sen the nomination to the floor was stymied by the committee’s chair, Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
The floor vote could complicate the standing of the lawsuit, which was filed by Palumbo and granted an expedited hearing before state Supreme Court in Suffolk County that’s currently set for Friday.
Palumbo’s suit argues that the state constitution demands that the full Senate, and not just a committee, is required to provide the advice and consent to a Court of Appeals nominee. Democrats note that the constitution also allows the…
Read the full article here