How New York’s highest court has veered right

ETA: Oh well.  "Janet DiFiore, the chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, says she will step down at the end of August."

After the Vermont and Massachusetts supreme court rulings both recognized some degree of marriage equality to same sex couples, the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, did not. This around fifteen years ago and was a split decision, but the general lame arguments were cited. 

I guess going by this recent article speaking of a "4-3" conservative leading Court of Appeals, there continues to be some.  The key votes came from two late Cuomo appointees, who progressives were upset received so little pushback in the state senate.  It was part of the aggravating end of the line of the Cuomo years, ending with a failure to impeach or get him much more in way of punishment except for being forced to resign.  

The article points out that not only have these four judges handed down noticeably conservative rulings on various issues, but did so often with limited analysis and effort at compromise.  Sounds a tad too familiar.  It is not supposed these judges are as bad as the Barrett Court.  All the same, as the Supreme Court gets very conservative and we have a more liberal legislature, it is upsetting.  

Judge Shirley Troutman, who joined the court early this year after being nominated by Gov. Kathy Hochul, is the court’s closest thing to a swing vote. Sometimes Troutman sides with the conservative bloc, and sometimes with Judges Jenny Rivera and Rowan Wilson, the court’s two liberals, both Cuomo nominees. But since the four judges in the conservative bloc already form a majority, Troutman’s vote generally doesn’t affect the outcome of cases.

Troutman was in the dissent in the partisan gerrymandering case. She is the second African-American on the court of appeals, and received NAACP support.  Some were upset, however, that she is a former prosecutor. This is a concern, especially with the Cuomo picks.  OTOH, as far as it goes, she seems a decent selection, one reason it was reasonable to vote for Hochul in the primary.  

I have noted from time to time that I do not pay enough attention to local government. I know rather little about the operations of local courts. To be fair, even in regards to the Court of Appeals, the main papers do not provide much coverage of their decisions.  The linked article is from one of online sources that provide important coverage of local government.