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      hector lasalle

      Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks on January 16, 2023, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at the National Action Network House of Justice Headquarters in New York City. ​

      'Extraordinary Repudiation': NY Senate Rejects Hochul's Right-Wing Judicial Nominee

      "We thank the members of the state Senate who stood with working New Yorkers in opposing a judge with a troubling judicial record on workers' rights, abortion rights, and racial justice," said one Hector LaSalle critic.

      Jessica Corbett
      Feb 16, 2023

      The New York State Senate's Democrats on Wednesday delivered a "major embarrassment" for and "extraordinary repudiation" of Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, rejecting Hector LaSalle, her anti-choice, anti-union nominee to lead the state's top court.

      "We thank the members of the state Senate who stood with working New Yorkers in opposing a judge with a troubling judicial record on workers' rights, abortion rights, and racial justice," said New York Working Families Party director Sochie Nnaemeka.

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      News
      kathy hochul
      Governor Kathy Hochul delivers remarks

      Why Defeating Hochul's Right-Wing Judicial Nominee Is Important Beyond New York

      On the threat of legal theories that pretend laws written by the powerful to protect the powerful are somehow not ideological.

      John Teufel
      Feb 10, 2023

      To recap for anyone not lucky enough to be a New Yorker: for the last few months, leftists in the state have been fighting a fierce battle with Governor Kathy Hochul over her decision to nominate a conservative judge, Hector LaSalle, to lead the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court. Hochul lost the first (and possibly last) skirmish in that battle, as the State Senate's Judiciary Committee voted not to send LaSalle's nomination to the floor for a full vote, though it remains possible Hochul will sue the State Senate to try and force that vote.

      LaSalle's initial defeat is good news for anyone who wants to halt the Court of Appeal's recent rightward drift. The judge's record indicated he would rule in favor of prosecutors and police, and against defendants and suspects; in favor of corporations, and against unions; and that his positions on issues from consumer protection to domestic violence to immigrant rights were indistinguishable from those held by a Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett.

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      Opinion
      kathy hochul
      New York Gov. Kathy Hochul attends a conference

      'Huge Win': NY Senate Panel Rejects Hochul's Right-Wing Judicial Nominee

      State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez credited "the work of activists and organizers on the ground who sounded the alarm early on LaSalle."

      Julia Conley
      Jan 18, 2023

      Progressive lawmakers and rights advocates in New York celebrated Wednesday after the state Senate Judiciary Committee voted against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's nominee to serve as the state's top judge, Justice Hector LaSalle—whose rulings regarding abortion rights, labor, and criminal justice made his nomination "an absolute disaster," according to one critic.

      The panel voted 10-9 against allowing LaSalle's nomination for chief judge of the state Court of Appeals to proceed to the state Senate floor.

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