In 1978, during his first months in office, former Mayor Ed Koch issued an executive order creating an independent Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judicial Branch. This committee of senior members of the bar set a precedent in recommending judicial mayor appointments to New York’s criminal, family, and civil courts. This reform eliminated the past practice of mayors appointing judges based on political or personal favoritism.
The foundation of this 47-year-old good-government process was followed — without deviation — by Mayors David Dinkins, Mike Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio, requiring not only approval of the Mayors’ Committee for all judicial appointments, but also approval of the city’s 142-year-old nonpartisan Bar Association.
This two-pronged judicial nomination process is the gold standard – supported by good government groups, such as Citizens’ Union and the Fund for Modern Courts – adding a vital safeguard against political interference, ensuring that judicial nominees are independently and separately vetted, with judges possessing the essential judicial characteristics of integrity, legal knowledge, experience, impartiality and good temperament, that all judges must to have.
With the election just weeks away, New Yorkers should be assured that our next mayor will commit to appointing only the most qualified people to serve in judicial office. We urge mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa to publicly commit to upholding the 1978 executive order, not only by creating an independent Mayor’s Committee on the Judiciary, but also ensuring the appointment of judges approved by both the Mayor’s Committee and the City Bar.
Although this good government reform – providing for two oversight bodies approving qualified judges – has had exceptions, with two mayors failing to fully honor this long-established process. In late 2024, Mayor Adams suddenly eliminated the city bar’s involvement, after the city bar gave final approval to 57 of Adams’ judicial appointments over the previous three years.
Since January 2025, Adams has ruled out mandatory participation of the city bar in this process and has appointed 17 judges to criminal, civil and family courts solely on the recommendations of his own committee. Adams said the reasons he bypassed the city bar were that their background investigations duplicated those of the mayor’s committee, their deliberations took too long, involved red tape and raised privacy concerns.
Adams was not the first mayor to circumvent the established process. In 1995, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani rejected the recommendations of his own independent committee and refused to reappoint two sitting judges. Therefore, Adams and Giuliani’s reversals from past practices removed a vital check and balance, opening the door to unmeritorious or politically motivated appointments.
In our view, especially in the final days of the Adams administration, Adams must restore the mandatory oversight role of the City Bar, which protects against possible midnight tainted judicial appointments.
Mayors are responsible for their appointments. It is the sacred duty of a mayor to appoint highly qualified judges of integrity and courage of their convictions when making decisions — based on facts and law — even when those decisions conflict with the personal governmental or political agendas of the mayor who appointed them.
Bloomberg said: “For much of the city’s history, appointments had been made based on political considerations, not merit…Mayor Koch changed that by instituting a rigorous selection process in partnership with the New York City Bar Association. »
De Blasio argued: “The apolitical process was preferred and must be followed. The seasoned, committed and impartial judges appointed today are what New Yorkers deserve…new and reappointed judges, with diverse experience, both personal and professional, representing the best interests of all who call this great city home.”
In 1995, Koch and Dinkins said, “We could not support anyone, Democrat or Republican, for mayor who decided in any way to bring politics back into the judicial selection process.” »
We live in perilous times. Our justice system is under intense scrutiny and the rule of law is constantly questioned. There is no doubt that we must have a rigorous and non-partisan judicial appointment process, which would result in a strong and, above all, independent judiciary. This apolitical process is a guarantee against inequality, government abuse and excess. It is essential to establish a mandatory, non-partisan process for appointing judges that guarantees justice for all litigants who enter our judicial system.
Kovner was Mayor Dinkins’ lawyer, former chairman of the Fund for Modern Courts, former member of two mayors’ judicial committees. Kriss was a former member of the City Bar Judicial Committee and NYPD Deputy Commissioner Trials in Mayor Koch’s administration. Berger was special counsel and advisor to Mayor de Blasio.
