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Asian American New York Supreme Court Justice Forced to Fight for Spot on Ballot

Doris Ling-Cohan

By Ed Diokno

Justice Doris Ling-Cohan of the New York Supreme Court will get her day in court.

The Manhattan Democratic Party will nominate Ling-Cohan for the ballot for re-election as a state Supreme Court justice this fall at the party’s Sept. 22 convention, sources said. The action reverses a screening panel’s earlier decision that stirred up a firestorm of protest.

 

“There are too few Asian American judges in New York,” read a statement from Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund. “We must not support a nominating system that allows highly qualified and independent judicial candidates to be kept off the ballot, simply because they fall out of favor with party leaders or unfairly become the target of anonymous attacks.”

The initial rejection of Ling-Cohan, first revealed in a New York Post story last week quoting an anonymous source saying the panel viewed her as “lazy,” has called into question the impartiality of the process — now dominated by lawyers who enjoy the opportunity to pick the judges they will appear before in cases involving millions of dollars. “These white shoe lawyers are getting a chance to knock off judges to benefit themselves,” charged Pete Gleason of the Downtown Independent Democrats.

Ling-Cohan, who in 2002 became the first Asian woman elected to the New York Supreme Court, is hailed as a hero in the LGBT community for her ruling upholding same-sex marriage in 2005 — six years before the state legalized same-sex marriage and 10 years before the US Supreme Court deemed it constitutional.

 

In her defense, AALDEF wrote: “Justice Ling-Cohan is a graduate of New York University Law School and a founder of the Asian American Bar Association of New York and the New York Asian Women’s Center. After her election to the New York Supreme Court, she was appointed to the Appellate Term in 2014. She wrote one of the first marriage equality decisions in the nation in 2005, Hernandez v. Robles. In 2015, she was among the 75 outstanding women lawyers named by National Law Journal for excellence in the legal profession.”

 

But it was Ling-Cohan’s support of tenants’ rights that allegedly drew the ire of at least one of the panelists.

Critics of the panel recommendation say that opposition to Ling-Cohan was spearheaded by a real estate lawyer whose firm would benefit if Ling-Cohan, who is widely supported by tenant groups, were not allowed to run again.

Ling-Cohan will now likely be added onto the November ballot, the Post reported Monday, if she receives the official nod at the committee’s Sept. 22 judicial convention.
(Note from Editor: The original headline has been changed to more accurately reflect the actual story)

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2 COMMENTS

  1. RE: Asian American New York Supreme Court Justice will run for re-election after all: Justice Ling-Cohan still needs to campaign to get enough votes to secure the nomination on 9/22. The screening panel has since reversed its own decision and found her approved, having been racked by irregularities in its first vote. However, the Democrats refused to accept their report which is an injustice.

  2. RE: Asian americna NY Supreme Court Justice will run for reelection after all: The headline is not correct. She is not assured the nomination unless she wins the delegates on 9/22 convention. And the Democratic Party is still disrespecting her and the communities by not removing the disapproved rating that its own Screening Panel has itself voted to do, when the Panel itself said the first vote was marred by irregularities!
    Justice for the Justice and the communities she serves!

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