NY Senate holds hearing for Rowan Wilson, Gov. Hochul’s pick for state’s top judge

ALBANY — It’s judicial déjà vu all over again. Rowan Wilson, Gov. Hochul’s new nominee to be the next chief judge of New York, will face questions about his past decisions on Monday as he appears before lawmakers for a confirmation hearing.

The appearance comes weeks after the governor’s first choice to lead the state’s sprawling court system, Hector LaSalle, was shot down by Senate Democrats in an unprecedented rejection.

It’s unlikely that Dems will dismiss Wilson, who has served as Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, for the past six years. If confirmed, Wilson will be New York’s first Black chief judge.

LaSalle, who was rejected by lawmakers concerned about his judicial record and decisions they viewed as too conservative, faced heated opposition from labor unions and others after Hochul announced his nomination last December. He’s viewed as “anti-abortion, anti-union and anti-due process” due to certain decisions highlighted by opponents.

Leading Dems in the chamber have already signaled that Wilson is more to their liking.

However, some advocates have raised issues with a decision the jurist penned last month overturning a rape conviction because of a delay in getting DNA evidence.

In a 4-2 decision, the Court of Appeals vacated the conviction of an upstate man accused of of raping a woman in 2009.

Wilson chastised prosecutors for failing to obtain a warrant to get DNA evidence from the defendant, who wasn’t indicted until four years after the incident, in a timely manner and also noted the toll on the victim.

“In this case, the police and prosecutors did not take defendant’s constitutional rights or the complainant’s sexual assault seriously; they did not act expeditiously with regard to either,” he wrote.

Wilson’s interpretation of “prompt prosecution” has drawn criticisms from several organizations, including NOW NYC and others.

Chiffon Abney, founder and CEO of HerUnivercity, and Jane Manning, director of Women’s Equal Justice, penned an op-ed published by the Daily News on Saturday slamming Wilson’s decision.

“Wilson and his colleagues discarded one victim’s hard-won justice, released a convicted rapist whose guilt was never in doubt, and set a precedent that will damage or destroy future rape prosecutions,” they wrote.

Despite the backlash, Wilson, previously confirmed by the Senate in 2017 when it was under Republican rule, is considered to be much more liberal-leaning than LaSalle and is expected to have wider support among Democratic lawmakers.

Top Democrats have made clear they want to see more liberal jurists on the Court of Appeals, particularly since the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative makeup has led to the rolling back of abortion access and other decisions in recent years.

Wilson was a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore for 25 years and also served as chairman of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, which provides legal services to the Harlem community, for 21 years.

Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Wilson’s nomination, calling him “an accomplished and well-respected jurist on the Court of Appeals, with a long and distinguished record in the private sector” in a statement earlier this month.

A second confirmation hearing for Caitlin Halligan, a lawyer who previously served as state solicitor general from 2001 until 2007, is scheduled for Tuesday after Hochul nominated her to fill the remaining vacancy on the Court of Appeals.

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

Halligan’s path to the state’s highest court is less clear as Republicans and good government groups weigh a potential lawsuit over a Hochul-sought change approved by the Legislature earlier this month that allows the governor to select an additional person from the short list compiled by the Commission on Judicial Nomination should a sitting Court of Appeals justice, such as Wilson, be elevated to chief judge.