Caitlin Halligan confirmed as associate judge on New York’s Court of Appeals

ALBANY — The state Senate on Wednesday confirmed Caitlin Halligan as a new associate judge of the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

Halligan, a lawyer who previously served as state solicitor general from 2001 until 2007, joins the court a day after Chief Judge Rowan Wilson was elevated to the state’s top judicial post.

The appointments come in the wake of a contentious law change allowing Gov. Hochul to nominate two judges from a single shortlist of candidates compiled by the Commission on Judicial Nomination.

“I am confident that Caitlin Halligan will be a phenomenal addition to our state’s highest court, helping the New York State Court of Appeals once again become one of our country’s leading examples of thoughtful, high-quality jurisprudence,” Hochul said in a statement following the 47-12 vote in the Senate.

The seven-member Court of Appeals has been one judge short since the resignation of former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore last summer.

Hochul’s initial pick for the top post, Hector LaSalle, was rejected by Senate Democrats in February.

Halligan, 56, most recently a partner at the law firm of Selendy Gay Elsberg, previously served as head of the internet bureau in the state attorney general’s office as well as general counsel to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Republicans have been mulling a legal challenge to the recently approved law change allowing Hochul to fill a vacancy on the state’s highest court from the remaining candidates on the current list of candidates should she nominate one of the sitting justices to become chief judge.

Wilson, New York’s first Black chief judge, served as an associate justice on the Court of Appeals for six years prior to being nominated to lead the state’s sprawling court system by the governor earlier this month.

“Rules aren’t supposed to change in the middle of the game. But the longer Democrats are in power, the more it seems to happen in Albany,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Oswego) said in a statement following Halligan’s confirmation.

“The process of nominating a new chief judge has turned into a blatant attempt by New York Democrats to circumvent existing law, accumulate more political power and undermine the credibility of the court,” he added.