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Latinos step up push for Hector LaSalle to lead NYS Court of Appeals despite progressive opposition

Hispanic New York politicians like ex-Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. are showing support for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pick to be New York’s top judge ahead of a Wednesday confirmation hearing where lefty-led Democratic legislators want to scuttle his bid to lead the state Court of Appeals.

“I have reviewed his record, considered the opinions of his legal colleagues, and spoken to Judge [Hector] LaSalle personally. I would not support him for this important position if I thought our shared progress on so many important issues was at risk,” Diaz Jr. said Friday.

“I call on my friends and colleagues in the New York State Senate to afford Judge Hector LaSalle a fair opportunity to answer the tough questions and earn their vote so that history, in this case for the Latino community, can be made once again. Like every other community, Latinos want and deserve it,” he added about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s embattled nominee to lead New York’s judiciary.

LaSalle would be the first Hispanic to lead the state’s high court if approved by a majority of the 63-member state Senate.

Diaz, Jr. surrounded by speaking at a podium with "Get Stuff Done" displayed on it.
Ex-Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. is among the Hispanic pols speaking up for Hector LaSalle ahead of a key state Senate hearing on Wednesday.
WireImage

Other prominent leaders have raised their voices in recent days in support of LaSalle, including Hispanic Federation Board Chair Gustavo Chinea, businessman Richard Carrión and former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito while lamenting the current lack of Latino representation at the highest levels of state government.

“Representation does matter. It does,” Mark-Viverito told reporters Thursday in a virtual press conference organized by a group called Latinos for LaSalle that has ties to political consultant Luis Miranda Sr.

“Those that want to accuse us who support LaSalle [of] playing some sort of identity politics, please, you obviously don’t know my history, right? … I support a qualified Latino candidate. That’s who I’m supporting here right now,” she added.

Other prominent Hispanic pols like Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez have also spoken favorable about LaSalle after Hochul unveiled her pick to lead the court late last month.

Progressives have claimed since then that the longtime jurist and ex-prosecutor is too right-leaning to become chief judge of the court while his supporters say the past rulings merely show LaSalle is committed to the letter of the law.

Some Democrats on the state Senate Judiciary Committee are aiming to sink LaSalle by voting down his nomination at the committee hearing Wednesday, but Hochul has argued that the full Senate must vote on confirming him, which could allow a bipartisan majority to get him approved.

Mark-Viverito in a brown quote giving a thumbs up while holding a ballot in a polling station
Ex-City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito says “representation matters” for Hispanic New Yorkers considering a lack of top pols from their communities.
James Messerschmidt

“There should not be a double standard by denying him the proper constitutional due process, and the respect he deserves during the hearing and vote proceedings,” Hispanic Federation President Frankie Miranda said.

A group of anonymous LaSalle supporters have also made a six-figure digital ad buy via a Delaware-based group with the help of New York political consultant Chris Coffey.

“Latinos make up just 10% of NY judges,” reads a banner ad first flagged by the Queens Daily Eagle.

LaSalle was scheduled to get additional support as the “special honoree” at a Friday night event organized by the Puerto Rican Bar Association.

His nomination is far from assured from getting approved by the state Senate where roughly half of the 42-member Democratic supermajority already appear opposed to LaSalle becoming chief judge amid fierce criticism from left-leaning unions and activists.

Espaillat in a grew coat behind a microphone surrounded by people.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat has spoken favorable of Hector LaSalle becoming the first Hispanic person to ever lead the state Court of Appeals.
DANIEL WILLIAM MCKNIGHT

“I do not see this ending in the way the governor wished it would,” Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) told Gotham Gazette last week.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Friday joined the growing ranks of legal advocacy groups scrutinizing a handful of past legal decisions involving LaSalle during his time as presiding judge of the Appellate Division of the Second Judicial Department of the state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

“Justice LaSalle’s record fails to demonstrate a commitment to civil rights and racial, gender, and economic justice,” Cylar Barrett, director of policy at the Legal Defense Fund, said. “Justice LaSalle’s confirmation to the court would entrench a longstanding imbalance by installing a majority of four judges on the Court of Appeals who are former prosecutors.”

But Mark-Viverito said LaSalle critics will not get the final word as she and other Hispanic pols speak up on his behalf as his nomination hangs in the balance following an election cycle where Republicans gained ground with voters in their community.

“We’re not going to sit in silence as we continue to get disrespected again, particularly when we’re speaking of someone who is highly qualified, and who’s gone through the extensive vetting that he’s gone through. So I’ll leave it at that,” she said.

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