More on Chief Judge Commission Scam

Hispanic Bar Groups "Shocked" By Nominee List for NY's Chief Judge
New York Law Journal by Joel Stashenko - December 8, 2008

Hispanic bar groups said they are "shocked and outraged" that the Commission on Judicial Nomination's list of recommended candidates to succeed Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye did not include any women or Hispanics. "The recommendations undermine the work of the Commission and its stated singular commitment to selecting only the most qualified candidates to the Court," the groups said in a joint letter to Governor David A. Paterson. Mr. Paterson also said he was "outraged" that no women were among the seven names submitted to him last week and has asked Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to research whether the state Constitution and statutes mandate that the governor must pick the next chief judge from the list. The groups writing to Mr. Paterson were the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Latino Lawyers Association of Queens County, the Dominican Bar Association and LatinoJustice PRLDEF. Their representatives said the groups and others wrote to Mr. Paterson supporting the candidacy of Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, the Court of Appeal's first Hispanic member, who did not make the list. Gail M. Boggio, president of the Women's Bar Association of New York, also criticized the list, saying it "does not reflect the great range of qualified individuals within the legal profession, or the diversity of society as a whole." New York State Bar Association President Bernice Leber, on the other hand, said the commission has a solid track record of choosing women nominees for the Court, where women outnumber men 4-3. Mr. Paterson must make a nomination for chief judge between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15.