N.Y. Judges to Lawmakers: No Pay Raises for Us, No Hearings for You

Legal Ethics

N.Y. Judges to Lawmakers: No Pay Raises for Us, No Hearings for You

Posted May 13, 2008, 11:29 am CDT
By Martha Neil

Updated: Perhaps it's just an over-scrupulous sense of ethics on the part of New York's judges.

But ever since the chief judge sued the state legislature for a pay raise, a number of the state's jurists have been recusing themselves from hearing cases involving state lawmakers and the law firms that many are affiliated with. Now the state Commission on Judicial Conduct has, in effect, told the judges to knock it off, according to the New York Daily News.

Unless judges truly feel they can't be impartial, they need to hold hearings in cases related to lawmakers, the commission warned yesterday in an advisory opinion. And, if they continue with the work slowdown, the commission contends, disciplinary action may result, the New York Law Journal reports in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.).

At least one jurist, however, wasn't impressed by the admonition. Judge Larry Himelein, who sits in Cattaraugus County, says he will still recuse himself from cases involving lawmakers or their firms, and called the advisory opinion "political," the newspaper reports.

"They seem to be bending over backward to be on the side of the legislators," Himelein tells the Daily News.

ABA Journal - Law News Now

Legal Ethics