Town Hall Tonight
Gov. Hochul has nominated Justice Hector LaSalle for Chief Judge, despite significant alarm raised by unions, reproductive rights organizations, senators, and other New Yorkers concerned about his regressive judicial record, which includes decisions that are anti-union, anti-abortion, and anti-due process. Join this town hall tonight @ 6PM to learn more about the fight to demand a better Chief Judge nominee.
- Yesterday The Court NY Deserves held a press conference and rally at the Capitol featuring four state senators, three union leaders, two reproductive rights organizations, and more opponents of this nomination. See coverage here, here, here, and here.
- Also yesterday, over 100 reproductive and gender justice organizations and leaders announced their opposition to LaSalle, sending this letter to Governor Hochul and the Senate. The signatories include large national organizations like the National Organization for Woman, the National Abortion Federation, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, the National Women’s Law Center, the National Women’s Health Network, and National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. Here is an article about the letter and here is a social media post promoting it.
- Last week, over 70 Latinx leaders announced their opposition to LaSalle, sending this letter to Governor Hochul and the Senate. The signatories include dozens of elected officials and nonprofit leaders, plus many lawyers and community leaders. Here are articles about the letter in English and Spanish, and here are social media posts by signatories.
- All the new members of the Judiciary Committee were announced yesterday. The new Democrats on the committee are Jessica Ramos and Shelley Mayer, who have each been unequivocal in their opposition to LaSalle, John Liu and Toby Ann Stavisky, who have each put out statements of deep concern, and Sean Ryan, who has not spoken publicly on the nomination. All of them, plus the eight returning Democrats on the committee—Senators Hoylman, Myrie, Gounardes, Bailey, Skoufis, Breslin, Sepúlveda, and Thomas—need to hear from as many people as possible between now and a potential committee hearing and vote next week.
Please join us in this fight to pressure state senators – specifically the Westchester delegation (Sen. Mayer is a “no”) – to announce their opposition to LaSalle immediately by taking the following actions today.
- Use and share this tool to call, email, and tweet at senators with a few clicks. (If you prefer to call/email/tweet at them directly, this document lists phone numbers and Twitter handles, and email addresses are listed at nysenate.gov.)
- To help you share it by email and on social media – you can use this sample post: “The NYS Senate must reject LaSalle’s nomination for Chief Judge! I call on my senator, @[ADD THEIR HANDLE], to oppose the nomination and make sure LaSalle is not confirmed. Join me in reaching out to senators today: p2a.co/pf9ft4o“
Congressional Update from Rep. Bowman
Our friends at Indivisible New Rochelle are hosting Rep. Bowman during their meeting this Saturday, 1/21 @ 3:30. Register for the meeting here.
Republicans, who hold the House majority, wasted no time showing they have no idea how to govern in a historic and appalling four-day, 15 vote showdown over GOP leadership. In another show of absurdity, they also swore in Long Island’s now-infamous fraudster George Santos.
In marked contrast to this clown show, Minority Leader Rep. Jeffries gave an impassioned speech about Democratic values on the House floor. If you missed it, be sure to watch it here.
