Don’t Show Me the Money: New York State Court Officials Bar Judges from Presiding Over Cases in which Attorneys and Others made Significant Campaign Contributions
It was announced that hundreds of New York State elected judges would be barred from presiding on cases involving attorneys and other entities that make significant contributions to their judicial election campaigns. The decision which is set to be handed down by the Honorable Jonathan Lippman, the Chief Justice of New York State, is believed to be directly related to growing complaints of financial contributions in judicial politics. The decision was adopted on February 1, 2011 by the Administrative Board of the Courts and is not expected to become final for at least another 60 days. It is believed the information will be tracked by computer programs that compare the names of attorneys and other entities against public records of financial contributions made to judicial candidates. If financial contributions are found to be made in an amount of more than $2,500 to a presiding judge, over a two-year period, the case will be assigned to a different judge. It will be interesting to see what, if any, type of an affect this may have on the future election of judges in New York State. Read More
