CUNY School of Law professor Steve Zeidman said he hopes the New York panel that vets Court of Appeals judges was listening to the Democratic-led Senate when it rejected Justice Hector LaSalle for chief judge of the state’s highest court.

Zeidman added further the Commission on Judicial Nomination should tailor its 120-day search to the upper house supermajority’s wants—that being, it should produce a shortlist of seven of the most progressive-minded lawyers, and not the blend of candidates that emerged from the most recent search.