State government officials are still weighing whether to appeal the Albany Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that struck down a prosecutorial misconduct watchdog created by the New York Legislature, a member of their legal team said Wednesday.

But several New York attorneys said the ruling from Justice David Weinstein leaves opportunities for legislators to change the statute, bringing it in line with New York's constitution while still providing oversight for the state's district attorney's offices.

"The way that the court's decision is written, it leaves open the possibility of future legislation that could potentially remedy the constitutional defects found by the court," said David Miller, a Greenberg Traurig partner and former prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved a statute creating the Commission of Prosecutorial Conduct in 2018, but he noted as he signed the bill that it contained constitutional issues.

He signed into law amendments aimed at fixing the constitutional issues in March 2019, but lawyers for the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York and Albany County District Attorney David Soares, representing the interests of all state district attorneys, sued Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, and other government officials in October, arguing that the law still contained "fatal" constitutional issues.

In its most recent form, the commission was part of the executive branch and could investigate DAs and assistant DAs. After investigating, the commission could dismiss the complaint, censure the prosecutor or send the governor a recommendation to dismiss the prosecutor.

Weinstein found that the commission's ability to carry out attorney discipline would interfere with the authority given by the constitution to the Appellate Division, which "does not allow any other body to impose sanction as a form of discipline for professional misconduct," he wrote.

Julie Rendelman, whose criminal defense firm The Law Offices of Julie Rendelman is based in Manhattan, said there may be an opportunity for revision within Weinstein's rejection.

If a new version of the commission could register that it has made a finding on a prosecutor's conduct without issuing any censure, it might survive future judicial review, she said.

Kathleen Sullivan, Andrew Rossman, William Adams and Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan represented the New York state government and Heastie.

Weinstein didn't take issue with the legislature's overall authority to establish a prosecutorial oversight commission, Rossman said, and the Quinn Emanuel team was glad to see him strike down some of the plaintiffs' arguments.

"Given the court's narrow invalidation of the law's appellate review mechanism, we are examining the best path forward to vindicate this landmark criminal justice reform," Rossman said.

Jim Walden and Jacob Gardener of Walden Macht & Haran represented Soares and DAASNY, and Walden said he was glad Weinstein's decision would let prosecutors do their jobs "without the constant threat of unconstitutional oversight."

Defense lawyers, meanwhile, said some form of external oversight for prosecutors is key. Heastie has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling.

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