New York’s system for trial level judicial elections, in which party leadership has the upper nominating hand, won a reprieve in the U.S. Supreme Court last week, dousing a First Amendment challenge backed by U.S. District Court and the Second Circuit rulings.
In an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court in New York State Board of Elections v. Torres (U.S. Jan. 16, 2008) rebuffed the claim of a would-be judicial candidate that she faced insurmountable odds in seeking nomination from the dominant party in her district.
