On Aug. 24, 2022, the judges of the New York Court of Appeals designated Associate Judge Anthony Cannataro to be their Acting Chief Judge. He is now one of seven nominees for the position of Chief Judge. The Court’s decisions rendered during Judge Cannataro’s watch show a newfound cohesiveness among the judges that was lacking and is a much to be desired quality in a body tasked with pronouncing the law of the state of New York. In the 17 appeals decided in October and November, there were only four dissenting opinions (23.5%). In sharp contrast, under his predecessor’s leadership during the first half of 2022, there were 31 dissenting opinions in 62 decided appeals (50%). The division among the judges was even greater (56.3%) since eight of those appeals were decided with the single, unanimous opinion in Columbia Memorial Hospital v. Hinds, __NY3d __ [Nos. 36, 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, 46, 62].

Thomas R. Newman is the original author of Buzard & Newman, New York Appellate Practice (LexisNexis).