The Case File

In 2008, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens famously described New York’s method of selecting judges for its higher trial courts as “stupid.” We concur, your honor! In New York’s unique system, candidates for State Supreme Court are picked at conventions run by county political parties—an exercise that is susceptible to corruption and patronage politics, and leads to elections that have the veneer of democracy but in truth are often decided in back rooms by only a few party insiders. Other judges are appointed by the mayor or shifted around by the state’s court system via an opaque process. (One programming note: Judges on State Supreme Court are technically known as “justices,” unlike those on lower courts. To avoid unnecessary confusion, we’re referring to all members of the judiciary as “judges.”)

Why do we do it this way and can this system ever change? Dive into the Case File, and learn more about how people become judges in New York City; the scandalous nature of the county political parties that often subvert democracy to get their favorite attorneys on the bench; and the reform efforts to try to finally fix the city’s judiciary.