Another New York institution may be about to turn all blue: the Court of Appeals.
Will the last conservative in New York please turn off the lights?
After serving more than 12 years of her 14-year term, Susan Phillips Read, an associate judge on the state’s top court, plans to retire in August. The 67-year-old was one of only two Republican appointees left on the court.
The other Republican judge, Eugene Pigott, will face mandatory retirement at age 70 at the end of 2016.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has named four of the court’s current seven members. With the retirements of Read and Pigott — and Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, who’s already 70 — he’ll soon have appointed all seven judges. So far, Cuomo has only appointed Democrats, so expect that trend to continue.
Why is that so ominous?
It’s not just that the court, often the final arbiter in key political disputes, needs balance. It’s that the state does.
Think about it: Democrats control the three statewide offices — the governor, state comptroller and attorney general. They also run the state Assembly and are close to taking the Senate. And the state’s biggest city, New York, is run — across the board — by hard-core progressives.
Republicans, indeed, are scarce here.
Yet without two strong parties, there’s little hope for healthy debate or checks and balances on government policies.
Frankly, even Democrats should be wary.