In 2009-2010, the Court of Appeals decided three major constitutional cases dealing with the powers and duties of the three branches of government. In Skelos v. Paterson,1 the Court surprised many commentators by ruling that the governor has the power to make an appointment to fill a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. The case involved the first time in New York history that a governor had appointed a lieutenant governor. In Maron v. Silver2—the litigation challenging the Legislature’s failure to increase judicial salaries in more than a decade—the Court declined to require the Legislature to increase judicial pay but it did hold that the Legislature must consider the question of judicial compensation on its own merits, independent of other political factors. This could prove significant as in the past the issue of judicial pay has been linked to legislative pay increases.
In People v. Correa,3 the Court determined that the chief judge, in consultation with the administrative board and with the approval of the Court of Appeals, can create new Supreme Court parts and direct the transfer of trials of misdemeanors from local criminal courts to the new parts. Only Maron involved a direct challenge to the Legislature, and even there the Court left the implementation of its ruling to the Legislature. But the three cases together confirm the Court’s continuing role as arbiter among the branches of government and defender of its own powers and independence.
