Victory in Judicial Elections Case!

[adamhmorse]

On Friday, Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York decided a case that I worked on extensively. He struck down New York State's system for electing Supreme Court Justices, which is to say trial court judges in the court of general jurisdiction. New York used partisan elections but with no primary elections. Instead, the parties nominated candidates through a unique convention system that allowed the party leadership to simply pick the nominees. The Brennan Center brought a suit challenging that system on behalf of a would-be candidate for Supreme Court and a group of voters. We argued that the system violated the First Amendment rights to participate in the election-- NY doesn't have to elect its judges, and doesn't have to give parties a role in nominating candidates, but if it does, it has to give rank-and-file voters a meaningful voice in that system. Judge Gleeson agreed with us on essentially everything, both factually and legally, and has ordered New York to provide primary elections (at least until the legislature implements a new, constitutionally sound procedure).

I spent several months working almost exclusively on this case. It's a terrific feeling to win big. Of course, the other side may appeal. But winning at the trial court level is a huge first step. The opinion is available from the Brennan Center's website at http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/downloads/lopeztorres/lopeztorres-decision.pdf