Westchester NOW

Some of you may have seen recent news reports announcing the nominees for Supreme Court justices in our area. Those judges are trial level judges for the most serious matters, including felonies and civil disputes involving larger sums of money. It's the plum of trial judgeships: each term is for 14 years and the annual salary is $136,700.

There are six positions up for election in November (judges run as political candidates for office, you ask? but that is another article for another newsletter). The Republican party selected six candidates: Supreme Court Justices Howard Miller and Robert Neary, Westchester County Judge Joseph Allesandro, Cortlandt Town Board member Joseph Cerreto, Orange County Judge Stewart Rosenwasser and Suffern Village Justice Matthew Byrne. Yes, reread the list. Not one woman.

The Democrats fared little better, nominating Supreme Court Justice Joan Lefkowitz, Westchester County Judge Lester Adler, Westchester Family Court Judge Bruce Tolbert, former Port Chester Village Justice William Giacomo, Rockland Surrogate Judge Alfred Weiner, and Kevin Griffin, a lawyer from Mahopac. Justice Lefkowitz is an incumbent, so all told there are NO new female candidates for these prestigious, lucrative judicial positions.

And women's absence in these trial-level positions hinders their opportunities at the appellate levels of the judicial system. The governor appoints the elected Supreme Court justices to serve on the Appellate Divisions throughout the state.

These rosters read as if this were 1974, not 2004. What happened to goals of diversity and inclusion? The United States Supreme Court has ratified the validity and significance of these concepts, but apparently they are not good enough for back room politics here in Westchester County. We know there were qualified female candidates interested in being nominated. Whoever the decision-makers are, you've let us down AGAIN.

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