In the interest of the court system, and with the urging of colleagues from the Appellate Division, First Department, I find it necessary to respond to and point out the inaccuracies in an article written by former Appellate Division Justice David Saxe entitled “Chief Judge’s Inquiry Into Dissents Intrudes On Judicial Independence” (published in the New York Law Journal on January 24, 2019 (NYLJ 1/24/19, P. 7, Col. 1)).

In his article, David Saxe criticized Chief Judge Janet DiFiore for allegedly instituting a “new protocol” of tabulating dissents written by candidates seeking judicial certifications for additional two-year terms after reaching the retirement age of 70. The article asserts that this intrudes into “the judicial independence of the court” by purportedly discouraging judges from issuing dissents.