Lippman Is Pick for Chief Judge

Justice Lippman was appointed to the Court of Claims by then-Governor George Pataki in 1995, but he did not begin hearing cases until January 2006, when he was elected to the Supreme Court. He also served on the Appellate Term, which hears appeals of city and district court cases on Long Island and in suburban counties north of New York City, before being appointed by then-Governor Eliot Spitzer to the presiding judgeship of the First Department (NYLJ, May 24, 2007).

Justice Fisher, by contrast, has experience as a Supreme Court and Criminal Court judge dating back to 1983, while Judge Jones first joined the Supreme Court bench in 1990 and Judge Pigott first became a Supreme Court justice in 1997.

Judge Pigott joined the Court of Appeals in September 2006 and Judge Jones in February 2007. Judge Pigott also served as presiding justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

Confirmation Likely

Justice Lippman’s confirmation by the Senate is virtually certain. The Senate has never refused to confirm a gubernatorial nomination to the Court since the appointive system began in 1977.

Moreover, Justice Lippman, like Mr. Paterson, is a Democrat. And Democrats took control of the Senate by a 32-30 margin based on the November elections, the first time since 1965 they have enjoyed a Senate majority.

Justice Lippman also is a good friend of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, another Democrat, with whom he grew up on New York’s Lower East Side.

But the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said yesterday he would not take up Justice Lippman’s confirmation until he holds hearings on the nomination commission’s selection process.

“For that committee not to put a woman on there, in this day and age, is atrocious,” Mr. Sampson said in an interview. “It is unacceptable, not only in my eyes, but in the eyes of all the people in the state of New York.”

Mr. Sampson said he would not seek to block Justice Lippman’s nomination, which he said Mr. Paterson had done constitutionally under the Court of Appeals’ selection process, but that his “first order of business” as committee chair would be to have hearings about the nomination commission’s work.

He said he would like to hold the hearings within two weeks.

Judge Ciparick, who has been acting chief judge since Jan. 1, will continue to lead the Court until the Senate confirms Judge Kaye’s successor.

Positive Reaction

Bernice K. Leber, the president of the New York State Bar Association, yesterday called Justice Lippman “a superb choice.”

As chief administrative judge, Ms. Leber said, he was “a skilled consensus builder with an innate ability to relate to legislators and the executive as well as judges and lawyers around the state.”

Through his ability to build consensus, Ms. Leber added, he was able to implement some of “Chief Judge Kaye’s boldest initiatives, including reform of lawyer advertising rules and expansion of the commercial courts.”

Ann B. Lesk, the president of the New York County Lawyers’ Association, said she hoped the current budget crunch would not hinder Justice Lippman’s agenda.

“Justice Lippman has worked diligently to improve the administration of justice in New York,” she said. “We hope that the New York state Legislature will provide the resources that are essential to allow New York’s courts to flourish under his leadership as chief judge.”

Oscar Chase, the co-director of the Institute of Judicial Administration at New York University School of Law, said Justice Lippman is “very smart” and “extremely hard working.”

Mr. Chase added, “He knows the court system and administrative structure as well as anyone in the state. In terms of administrative responsibilities of the office, Justice Lippman is the next best thing to a continuation of Chief Judge Kaye’s tenure.”

But Mr. Chase said Justice Lippman is “to some extent an unknown” in terms of his judicial philosophy considering his short time hearing cases.

“Based on my observation of his professional life, I am sure he will be a jurist sensitive to the needs of the people of this state and to the law he will be sworn to uphold,” said Mr. Chase.

Roberto Ramirez, a former assemblyman and president-elect of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, called Justice Lippman “a candidate of impeccable credentials and lifetime commitment and service to the judiciary and court system” but was nonetheless disappointed that the candidate list was not more diverse.

“It is unfortunate that what this process has shown is that there is a historical exclusion of women and Latinos when it comes to the so-called merit selection panel,” said Mr. Ramirez. “I believe that what happened this year is a call to reform the system.”

E. Leo Milonas, a Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partner and former chief administrative judge, said Justice Lippman is the best candidate to take over as chief.

“There couldn’t be a better chief judge to replace Chief Judge Kaye,” he said. Justice Lippman is “extraordinarily qualified to take over the Court upon Chief Judge Kaye’s departure and not miss a beat.”

The chief judge makes $156,000 a year, $8,400 more than Justice Lippman made as chief administrative judge and now as presiding justice in the First Department.

If confirmed, he would become the first chief judge not elevated from within the Court since Alton Parker in 1898.

[email protected] Daniel Wise contributed to this report.