New York Court of Appeals in Albany, NY. Photo: Shutterstock.com

New York's top court is expected hear in-person arguments on a case June 2, a move that comes after the Capital Region met COVID-19 reopening benchmarks outlined by state officials, according to a court spokesman.

Arguments in four cases are scheduled to be heard June 2, but only one of those cases is expected to be heard in person, said Court of Appeals spokesman Gary Spencer on Wednesday. The other three cases are expected to hold arguments remotely, he said.

The justices will be in a spaced-out seating arrangement June 2, similar to how the state's high court held arguments back in March, Spencer said.

Arguments will be webcast live and the courtroom will be closed to the general public, according to a notice from John Asiello, chief clerk and legal counsel to the court. The document says there will be "appropriate safety protocols" during the June 2020 session.

Earlier this month, state officials gave the Capital Region, which includes the cities of Albany and Troy, approval to reopen parts of its economy following coronavirus-triggered lockdown measures. In part, those benchmarks say that regions must see a continued downturn, or a low number, of hospital deaths or new hospitalizations.

Steven Mintz, a founding partner and general counsel of Mintz & Gold, described oral arguments as critical at the Court of Appeals, saying it can give nuance to points that get lost in written briefs. 

Communications signals, like body language and speech intonation, can influence how a point is received, he said. But in court proceedings conducted by telephone or video, those subtleties can be lost, he said.

Stephen P. Younger, a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, said video court proceedings can make it more difficult to determine the right time to start talking and make it harder to pick up on subtle nuances such as jokes and rhetorical questions.

The case set to be heard in person, captioned Matter of Senzer, involves a review of a determination from the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct.

In that case, the commission in October 2019 recommended that Northport Village Justice Paul Senzer be removed from the bench. According to the commission's determination, he was found to have, in emails, used several derogatory terms to refer to individuals in a visitation matter that he was involved in as an attorney in Family Court.

Lawyers for Senzer in November requested review of that determination by the Court of Appeals.

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