Posted on 08/19/2006 2:33:40 AM PDT by neverdem
ALBANY, Aug. 18 — Gov. George E. Pataki nominated an upstate Republican on Friday to be his fifth appointee on the seven-member Court of Appeals, moving to assure that his imprint on the state’s highest court will last long into the next governor’s term.
The governor appointed Eugene F. Pigott Jr., the presiding justice of the appellate division in Buffalo, to fill the seat that is being vacated by Judge George Bundy Smith, whose 14-year term ends next month. Judge Smith had applied to be reappointed to a second term, but several legal experts said that his prospects were harmed because of the decision he wrote in 2004 striking down the state’s death penalty, angering the governor.
The departure of Judge Smith, who is black, will leave the state’s highest court without a black judge for the first time in more than two decades.
The Court of Appeals, which has historically determined the fate of controversial legislation and ruled on the limits of government power, has handed down several significant decisions recently, ruling this year that there was no constitutional right to gay marriage, upholding a law expanding legalized gambling in the state last year, and striking down the death penalty in 2004.
By selecting Justice Pigott, a fellow Republican, Mr. Pataki continued his efforts to shift the court further to the right and away from what he railed against as an activist cast in his early years as governor. Since early in his first term, the governor has complained that the court’s decisions hampered law enforcement efforts, and in his nearly 12 years as governor, he has broken with the tradition of naming appointees from both parties to the highest court, choosing only Republicans.
With this appointment, coming just months before he...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Good.
What, no difersity?" Shame! Shame!
Christie Toad Whitman appointed virtually the entire NJ Supreme Court, but she filled it up with troglodyte RINOs doing the dirty work for the 'Rats, same with Weld/Cellucci in Taxachusetts. Unless Pataki actually filled NY's highest court with Conservatives, it won't matter worth a damn.
NY Republicans are far to the left of center, though.
I'll miss the guy. He voted in the 4-2 majority stiking down the gay marriage lawsuit. I hope this next justice will be pro-life and anti-homosexual agenda.
In his judicial reasoning, that is.
I heard Smith did a good job. I hope the next guy can continue to preserve values and check the power of gov't.
Nonsense. You have NO IDEA what you're talking about.
"I'll miss the guy. He voted in the 4-2 majority stiking down the gay marriage lawsuit. I hope this next justice will be pro-life and anti-homosexual agenda."
Me too!!!!!!!!!!
"NY Republicans are far to the left of center, though."
I agree. They think they need to be liberal in NYS, but what's the sense of voting if both Dims and Republicans are liberal.
Thankfully, Faso is conservative, but sadly NY voters have been duped by Spitzer, and Spitzer has the big bucks.
I'm hoping for a political upset in November. You never know.
This will give us an idea of the kind of judges Spitzer would pick if he becomes gov.:
Tuesday, May 2, 2006 10:50 p.m. EDT
Spitzer Blasts Scalia's 'Constructionist' View
Democratic candidate for governor Eliot Spitzer on Monday criticized the strict "constructionist" view of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who views the Constitution as unalterable by cultural or social trends.
"As a citizen, and as the state's lawyer, I believe in an evolving Constitution," said Spitzer, the state attorney general, at the annual Law Day ceremony at the New York Court of Appeals. "A flexible Constitution leaves room for us to consider not merely how the world once was, but how it ought to be."
The next governor will have at least two spots to fill on the seven-member court with Judge Albert Rosenblatt's term ending on Dec. 31 and Chief Judge Judith Kaye's ending next March.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/2/225739.shtml?s=ic
Pataki Appoints Fifth Republican to Highest Court
By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: August 19, 2006
By selecting Eugene F. Pigott, Gov. George E. Pataki continued his efforts to shift the court further to the right.
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I hope Pataki's nominees really are from the right, as Pataki isn't that far to the right himself.
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