2007 Issue 1 - New York City Bar Association

Recommendations on the
Selection of Judges and
the Improvement of the
Judicial Selection System
in New York State
The Judicial Selection Task Force
This report of the Judicial Selection Task Force was issued in December 2006.
In February 2007, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Lopez
Torres v. New York State Board of Elections, in which the lower courts held
that New York’s judicial convention method of nominating Supreme Court
Judges is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments
in the case in the fall of 2007.
INTRODUCTION
The Judicial Selection Task Force (or “Task Force”) was convened by
the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (the “Association”) in
March 2006. Its mandate was to issue recommendations on improving
the judicial selection system in New York State, particularly in light of the
recent reform proposals by the “Commission to Promote Public Confidence
in Judicial Elections” (the “Feerick Commission”) and Judge John
Gleeson’s January 2006 decision in Lopez Torres. 1
The question of how judges are generally to be selected has been the
subject of debate throughout our nation’s history. See infra Section IA. In
recent years this debate has been particularly prominent. In April 2003,
1. Lopez Torres v. N.Y. State Bd. of Elections, 411 F. Supp. 2d 212, 246 (E.D.N.Y. 2006),
aff’d, 462 F.3d 161 (2d Cir. 2006).
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