Court of Appeals Associate Judge Caitlin J. Halligan is given a standing ovation following her speech at her investiture ceremony held on June 7, 2023 at the New York Court of Appeals in Albany, New York. Photo: Ryland West/ALM

During New York Court of Appeals Judge Caitlin Halligan's investiture on Wednesday in Albany—a ceremony where fellow speakers spoke of how Halligan can help bring the state's top court to national prominence—Halligan wore the robe of late Chief Judge Judith Kaye. Halligan saluted Kaye for being "an extraordinary leader of this court and a very generous mentor to me—her pride and clear writing that told you not just what the legal rule was, but why that was the right result." A former state solicitor general from 2001 to 2007, and who in 2013 withdrew her nomination by former President Barack Obama to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, after Senate Republicans casted her as "an extremist activist judge," Halligan brought the Court of Appeals to a full complement of seven jurists in April. The court had been operating shorthanded for seven months, after former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore resigned in August 2022. Halligan, a former Selendy Gay Elsberg partner, also thanked her six new Court of Appeals colleagues for being "so gracious and patient in helping me navigate this transition," and Gov. Kathy Hochul and governor's counsel Elizabeth Fine for placing their confidence in her. Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, whose elevation to his role from associate judge was confirmed by the Senate in April alongside Halligan's, rejected the notion of Halligan being an activist. "I can assure you that Judge Halligan is not an extremist, but instead a scholar who follows the law and who firmly understands the limited role of the judiciary in our tripartite system," Wilson said. "I'm confident, both from her stellar role in government service and in private practice, and from her work on this court so far, that she will be a model jurist—someone all will point to as an exemplary judge." Wilson also spoke about Hochul's program bill that allowed her to nominate Halligan from a commission list intended to sit a chief judge—a pathway that Senate Republicans initially suggested was in contradiction to the state constitution. The GOP has since been quiet on the topic. "My surmise," Wilson said of that silence, "is that everyone involved recognized that Judge Halligan was an unimpeachable candidate who would strengthen the court immeasurably, and would have been nominated by the governor and approved by the Senate without question on her merits, whenever that was. And the best way forward for the court and the state was to assure her speedy confirmation to the Court of Appeals." Wilson also observed the reoccurring theme of the numeral 7 in Halligan's addition to the court: she sits in its seventh seat, and in the court's history is its 117th judge, nominated by the state's 57th governor. Also, this was Halligan's seventh time being eligible to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals, which was holding the investiture on June 7. "I think we should all thank our lucky stars that Judge Halligan has joined us," Wilson said. The governor, speaking to Halligan's family in attendance, also addressed Halligan's persistent path to the court. "I cannot imagine the pride that she must feel right now, to see your mother where she belongs, your wife where she belongs after dedicating her entire life to serving others," Hochul said. "This is her rightful place."