Prior to the confirmation of Jenny Rivera, a professor of law at the City University of New York Law School, as an associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals, the Law Journal reported one member of the Senate as saying she was less qualified than 11 Hispanic judges who should have been considered for the nomination. The suggestion that there should be a "Hispanic seat" on the Court of Appeals was accepted without comment. This concept that a nominee should be a "representative" of an ethnic or social group, however antithetical to the New York Constitution and the Judiciary Law, is the direct result of the politicization of the judicial selection process by the rules of the Commission on Judicial Nomination.
In 1977, the Court of Appeals became an appointed rather than elected court. This change was the result of an amendment to the state Constitution that year, a landmark change made to de-politicize the process of selecting Court of Appeals judges. Under Article VI, §2(c), a Commission on Judicial Nomination was established to recommend candidates for the state’s high court, with the governor to nominate and submit one of the recommended candidates for submission to the Senate for its advice and consent.
