New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox has accused Chief Judge Rowan Wilson of unlawfully "packing" a critical judicial screening panel with partisan Democrats, thereby undermining the state constitution's mandate for political balance.
The Commission on Judicial Nomination, which recommends candidates to the governor for the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, has a constitutional requirement that no more than two of its four members can belong to the same political party. Cox alleges that Wilson has violated this provision.
"New York’s court system was once the most respected in the nation. Thanks to Judge Wilson and one-party Democrat rule, our courts have been hopelessly corrupted," Cox stated.
Cox specifically pointed to Chief Judge Wilson's recent appointments to the panel. Among these were former Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Fahey and activist Cynthia Nixon, both registered Democrats. Another appointee, Joshua Silber, a Democrat and donor to Democratic candidates, reportedly purged his voter registration records in New York about a month before his May 1 appointment to the panel. Silber subsequently re-registered as an independent on July 14.
Cox criticized Silber's re-registration, calling it a maneuver to "appear ostensibly as an independent, circumventing the State Constitution’s requirement for political balance." He added that Wilson was "giving New Yorkers a master class in Albany corruption."
Ann-Marie Foster, a nonprofit executive and another of Wilson's appointees, was also not enrolled in a political party at the time of her selection.
A spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration, Al Baker, defended Wilson's appointments. Baker stated that "at the time the Chief Judge sent his appointment letter to the Governor’s Office on May 1, Mr. Silber was not enrolled as a Democrat." The spokesperson also asserted that neither the Chief Judge nor his staff encouraged Silber to de-enroll from the Democratic Party.
Silber declined to comment on the matter. Nixon's appointments to judicial panels have previously drawn attention.
