A program bill proposed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul would allow her to have two bites at the apple toward identifying a seventh jurist for the state’s highest court, but at least one legal observer questioned the constitutionality and equity of her plan.

Late Monday, during the ongoing budget process, Hochul proposed a measure that would allow her, should she pick one of the three sitting Court of Appeals associate judges who made Friday’s shortlist for chief judge, to then turn to the same list to pick that judge’s replacement.