Regular Session - February 11, 2013
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1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE
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4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD
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9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 February 11, 2013
11 3:49 p.m.
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14 REGULAR SESSION
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18 SENATOR JOSEPH A. GRIFFO, Acting President
19 FRANCIS W. PATIENCE, Secretary
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The
3 Senate will come to order.
4 I ask all present to please rise
5 and join with me as we recite the Pledge of
6 Allegiance to our Flag.
7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited
8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.)
9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Today's
10 invocation will be offered by the Reverend Peter
11 G. Young, of the Mother Teresa Community here in
12 Albany.
13 Father Young.
14 REVEREND YOUNG: Thank you.
15 Let us pray.
16 O God, we pray for our New York
17 State citizens, for their dignity of a receiving
18 a paycheck to overcome homelessness and hunger.
19 We ask that our Senate leadership
20 give our citizens peace of mind and renewed
21 faith in a strong economy that provides the
22 needy job opportunities.
23 Protect us from the violence of
24 others, and keep us safe from the weapons of
25 hate. Free the bound people who are caught by
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1 the chains of addiction, to encourage them with
2 their struggle to recover to productive
3 lifestyles as an example of hope to others.
4 We ask You this through Your
5 goodness. Amen.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
7 you, Father.
8 The reading of the Journal.
9 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, Friday,
10 February 8th, the Senate met pursuant to
11 adjournment. The Journal of Thursday,
12 February 7th, was read and approved. On motion,
13 Senate adjourned.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Without
15 objection, the Journal stands approved as read.
16 Presentation of petitions.
17 Messages from the Assembly.
18 Messages from the Governor.
19 Reports of standing committees.
20 Reports of select committees.
21 Communications and reports from
22 state officers.
23 Motions and resolutions.
24 Senator Libous.
25 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President,
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1 before we do the report from the Judiciary
2 Committee, could members enter the chamber and
3 take their seats. Could I ask the
4 Sergeant-at-Arms to make sure that the doors are
5 secure and that we can begin this process in a
6 quiet and orderly manner.
7 So, Mr. President, I believe there
8 is a report from the Judiciary Committee at the
9 desk.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
11 you, Senator Libous.
12 I would ask the members to please
13 take their desks, staff to please find suitable
14 quarters, and the Sergeant-at-Arms to have the
15 doors closed.
16 Returning to reports of standing
17 committees, the Secretary will read the report
18 of the Judiciary Committee.
19 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bonacic,
20 from the Committee on Judiciary, reports the
21 following nomination:
22 Jenny Rivera, of the Bronx, as a
23 judge of the New York State Court of Appeals.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
25 Bonacic.
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1 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you,
2 Mr. President.
3 Last week the Judiciary Committee
4 met and considered the nomination of Jenny Rivera
5 as a judge of the Court of Appeals for a term
6 commencing January 15, 2013, and expiring January
7 14, 2027.
8 Professor Rivera is with us today in
9 the gallery. Professor Rivera is joined in the
10 gallery by Audie Serrano, her domestic partner,
11 as well as her close family, friends and some of
12 her colleagues from CUNY School of Law.
13 She is a resident of the Bronx, and
14 she's in Senator Klein's district.
15 Pursuant to the provisions of
16 Section 2 of Article 6 of the Constitution and
17 the provisions of Section 68 of the
18 Judiciary Law, the Judiciary Committee has
19 reported the nomination without recommendation to
20 the floor.
21 I now ask that you recognize Senator
22 Klein.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
24 Klein.
25 SENATOR KLEIN: Thank you,
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1 Mr. President.
2 It is truly an honor for me to rise
3 today to nominate Jenny Rivera of the Bronx to
4 fill a term commencing on January 15, 2013, and
5 expiring on January 14, 2027, as judge of the
6 Court of Appeals.
7 Several years ago many of us stood
8 on this floor and we spoke about the nomination
9 at that time of Judge Jonathan Lippman, who at
10 that time was being elevated to chief judge of
11 the Court of Appeals. Sometimes it got
12 contentious. A lot of times people questioned
13 whether or not he was the right appointment to be
14 elevated to be chief judge or the Court of
15 Appeals.
16 But at that time I rose and spoke on
17 behalf of Judge Lippman, citing his experience
18 but most of all citing the fact that he was a
19 product of New York, grew up on the Lower East
20 Side. And I said then here was somebody who was
21 born of immigrant parents, grew up on the
22 Lower East Side, which is truly a melting pot, as
23 everyone notion. And at that time he probably
24 would only dream of becoming a lawyer, let alone
25 someday being elevated to chief judge of the
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1 Court of Appeals.
2 Well, I said then and I say it again
3 now that I think with Jenny Rivera's nomination
4 today what we're seeing, first and foremost, is
5 that that dream -- that dream of someone growing
6 up in New York, growing up on the Lower East
7 Side, spending their lives planning to be
8 elevated to be a judge -- is alive and well in
9 New York today.
10 Jenny Rivera comes to us in a very
11 different way. She wasn't trained to be a
12 Wall Street lawyer. She wasn't trained to join
13 one of those white-shoe law firms. She was
14 trained as a public woman, somebody who has
15 dedicated her life to public service, someone who
16 each and every day gets up in the morning with a
17 singular purpose, to make a positive difference
18 in people's lives.
19 Her background is quite impressive
20 in the public service: A pro se law clerk in the
21 Second Circuit Court of Appeals, associate
22 counsel at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and
23 Education Fund, administrative law judge for the
24 New York State Division of Human Rights,
25 commissioner on the New York City Commission on
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1 Human Rights, law clerk to the U.S. District
2 Court Judge, now Supreme Court Judge Sonia
3 Sotomayor, Special Deputy Attorney General for
4 Civil Rights and the chief of the Civil Rights
5 Bureau in the State Attorney General's office.
6 She's someone who clearly,
7 throughout her career, planned to be in this very
8 place -- but in a different way, as I said,
9 dedicated to public service.
10 I do also want to say a word about
11 her most recent position. As many of you may
12 know, Jenny Rivera is a professor at CUNY Law
13 School, the City University Law School in
14 New York, where she is the director of the Center
15 of Latino and Latina Rights and Equality.
16 That means something to me, because
17 I graduated from CUNY Law School. And I chose
18 the law school for probably the same reason that
19 Jenny Rivera chose to teach there. First of all,
20 it trains lawyers to be in the public service.
21 That's their singular goal. That's their
22 singular purpose. It trains individuals to
23 pursue a career in public service. You're
24 encouraged, when you go to CUNY Law School, to
25 bring your experience in the real world. That's
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1 why many of the students go there later in life,
2 in many cases after a distinguished career in
3 public service.
4 It also has the distinction of
5 graduating more women and minorities than any
6 law school in the State of New York. It's open
7 to all. It's affordable.
8 As I said, it takes a very special
9 person to graduate from that school, and it
10 certainly takes a very special person to teach
11 those law students each and every day. That's
12 something that's very, very important, and I
13 think that's going to serve Jenny well when she's
14 a judge of the Court of Appeals.
15 I think we also have to acknowledge
16 that Jenny's presence here today is a testament
17 to our commitment in New York State to ensure
18 that our courts are a reflection of the people
19 they serve. We cannot expect to have a fair
20 judicial system in all its aspects of expression
21 without it representing the full scope and
22 spectrum of our citizens.
23 History has also shown us that while
24 we may have different areas of experience and
25 accomplishment, we only advance as a community
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1 and a state and a nation by supporting each
2 other. We may come from different cultures, but
3 make no mistake: We share a human bond and we
4 are collectively responsible for one another.
5 Growing up in the Bronx taught me something very
6 simple. When you lift up your friend, you lift
7 yourself up as well.
8 What makes this country a beacon for
9 all others around the globe that we honor each
10 other's chosen path to success. In this country,
11 and especially here in New York State, success is
12 found through dedication, perseverance, courage
13 and commitment to one's chosen field. I think
14 the old adage or the old proverb proves true:
15 All roads lead to Rome.
16 It is in that spirit that I stand
17 here today and proudly and wholeheartedly support
18 the nomination of Jenny Rivera to serve on the
19 New York State Court of Appeals. Jenny Rivera is
20 a fine legal mind, and I am completely confident
21 that New Yorkers who come before her bench will
22 know one certain truth: Justice will be served.
23 Thank you, Mr. President.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
25 you, Senator Klein.
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1 Senator Bonacic.
2 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you,
3 Mr. President.
4 I believe the Court of Appeals
5 appointment is one of the most important
6 positions in New York State government. The
7 decisions of the Court of Appeals affect millions
8 of New Yorkers for generations to come. I
9 believe the executive and legislative branches
10 have a duty to see that the best, the brightest
11 and the most qualified person is appointed to the
12 highest court.
13 Since I have served on the Senate
14 Judiciary Committee, I've had the responsibility
15 to vote for eight nominees to the Court of
16 Appeals. I voted yes all eight times. Four were
17 women. One was Hispanic. One was
18 African-American. And three were like me, but
19 only smarter and more handsome.
20 The nominee has a very limited law
21 practice experience. She has been a law
22 professor most of her life. She served as a law
23 clerk one year with Judge Sotomayor back in 1993
24 and one and a half years with the Attorney
25 General, then Andrew Cuomo, and that was in
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1 2007-2008. Those experiences, in my judgment,
2 were more administrative law than the practice of
3 law in the trenches with a variety of different
4 areas.
5 I have every reason to believe that
6 this nominee is smart, is passionate about the
7 areas of the law that will interest her, and is a
8 good professor.
9 I have spent considerable time
10 studying her writings, and I have to tell you, I
11 find her writings to be confusing and unclear and
12 overwhelmingly not reflective of the number of
13 cases or subject matters which come before a
14 Court of Appeals judge.
15 I have concerns, if she were to be
16 confirmed, that she would be prone to judicial
17 activism rather than apply the statute before
18 her. I also have concerns that it would be very
19 difficult for her to be objective in all issues,
20 given her passion in a limited area of law.
21 Academia is a perfect honorable
22 profession. I have three academics at the
23 high school or college level in my immediate
24 family. But taking someone from academia and
25 appointing them to the Court of Appeals -- or the
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1 Supreme Court, where they could get the training,
2 I would be voting for this nominee. But you're
3 asking, this Governor is asking this body to make
4 a leap from the academic world right to the
5 highest court in the State of New York.
6 Some have made the argument that
7 this nominee will bring a different perspective
8 and think outside the box. If you want someone
9 on the court with a different perspective, one
10 could choose an athlete with a law degree, choose
11 a CEO of a corporation with a law degree, choose
12 a hedge fund manager with a law degree. They
13 would bring different perspectives, but not
14 necessarily the perspective that's needed for a
15 Court of Appeals judge.
16 I don't want a particular
17 perspective on the bench. There is a place for
18 perspective; it is here in the Legislature. And
19 I submit that this body makes laws. That's the
20 place for it to be.
21 Maybe Governor Cuomo felt this
22 nominee was the very best of the seven that he
23 has given us. I hope he did. I don't
24 understand, you know, how he thinks. But he's
25 the Governor, he's above my pay grade, he's
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1 smarter than I am, and I'm here.
2 Maybe the belief is that the three
3 Appellate Division judges what were passed over
4 were somehow less qualified than the nominee we
5 have. I have said that in my view, governors
6 engage in social engineering when it comes to
7 judicial nominations. Some have disagreed with
8 me. Maybe it was just a coincidence and not
9 social engineering that the first Latina judge on
10 our state's highest court is being replaced by
11 the second Latina judge on our state's highest
12 court.
13 If you are to believe that there is
14 no social engineering in judicial picks and it is
15 qualifications and only qualifications that
16 matter, then you must believe that this nominee
17 is better than three appellate judges, each of
18 whom have been elected by the people and elevated
19 by a governor to the Appellate Division.
20 You must believe that the nominee is
21 more qualified than two active trial attorneys,
22 partners who have litigated and not just
23 consulted with major matters such as RICO claims,
24 fair labor law, health insurance litigation,
25 contract interpretation, religious discrimination
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1 claims, claims over education disputes for
2 students with special needs, real estate
3 litigation, local law compliance, allocation of
4 payment in lieu of taxes agreement, a
5 Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and a person who was
6 appointed by two different mayors to serve on
7 commissions as broadly different as planning and
8 police corruption, who have served on task forces
9 for two chief justices. And that, my colleagues,
10 is just one resume of one candidate that was
11 passed over.
12 To make this confirmation about
13 one's ethnic background, though, instead of
14 qualifications demeans the great Court of
15 Appeals that our state has always had.
16 Those passed over include Rolando
17 Acosta, a sitting judge of the Appellate
18 Division. Judge Acosta is an Hispanic-American
19 who is deemed to have the highest qualifications
20 and has written numerous reported decisions.
21 Judge Eugene Fahey, a highly
22 qualified and highly recommended justice of the
23 Appellate Division.
24 Kathy Chin, a seasoned litigator who
25 happens to also be Asian-American and would have
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1 been the first Asian-American on the court. It
2 was her resume I read to you about the RICO
3 statutes and all the things she has been involved
4 in.
5 Sheila Abdus-Salaam, whose name I
6 undoubtedly just was not kind to, but who is a
7 justice of the Appellate Division who had been
8 elected to the State Supreme Court. If
9 nominated, according to Reuters news service, she
10 would have been the first African-American woman
11 on the Court of Appeals.
12 David Schulz, a highly experienced
13 litigator in New York City. According to the Law
14 Journal, Mr. Schulz would have been the first
15 openly gay member of the court.
16 Now, these individuals, based on
17 their ethnic background or personal
18 characteristics, might have been historic. But
19 shame on us if we demean them by stating their
20 race, gender, or sexual orientation is what
21 defines them. It is their qualifications that
22 define them.
23 However -- and I mean this with all
24 due respect to this nominee -- to put someone who
25 has such narrow legal experience on the highest
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1 court of this state for 14 years -- and possibly
2 18 years, if the law blesses her with a long and
3 healthy life -- and to pass over those highly
4 qualified nominees is not something that I can
5 support.
6 Thank you, Mr. President.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
8 Espaillat.
9 SENATOR ESPAILLAT: Professor Jenny
10 Rivera was nominated by Governor Andrew Cuomo to
11 succeed Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick to serve in the
12 New York State Court of Appeals. If confirmed
13 here today, she will be the second Hispanic woman
14 to sit on such court.
15 The Governor selected Rivera, as was
16 said by my colleague before me, among seven
17 candidates found well-qualified by the Commission
18 on Judicial Nomination, a panel with members
19 appointed by the Governor, the Legislature, and
20 the Chief Judge.
21 The commission, chaired by
22 Chief Judge Judith Kaye, conducted extensive
23 outreach in seeking applicants and its efforts
24 resulted in the highest number of applications
25 ever: 75, the most women applicants ever, and
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1 24, the most minority applicants ever.
2 Ms. Rivera earned her undergraduate
3 degree from Princeton University, her J.D. from
4 New York University School of Law, and her L.L.M.
5 from Columbia University School of Law,
6 concentrating on constitutional theory.
7 Ms. Rivera is a member of the
8 New York State Bar Association and is admitted to
9 practice in the Supreme Court of the United
10 States, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and
11 the District Courts for the Southern and Eastern
12 Districts of New York.
13 Currently she is a professor of law
14 at the City University School of Law, CUNY. She
15 is also the founder and director of the
16 Law School Center on Latino and Latina Rights and
17 Equality, which promotes law reform scholarship,
18 public education, and litigation relating to
19 civil rights issues facing the Latino community.
20 She has previously served as a
21 visiting professor at the American University and
22 Suffolk University Schools of Law.
23 She also currently serves as a
24 member of the Second Department Judicial
25 Screening Committee, which helps to screen
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1 applicants for judicial positions.
2 Prior to her time at CUNY, Professor
3 Rivera served as an administrative law judge on
4 the New York State Division of Human Rights. In
5 1993, she clerked for then District Court and now
6 Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
7 Ms. Rivera also previously clerked in the Second
8 Circuit of Appeals Pro Se Law Clerk's Office.
9 She also worked as a lawyer for the Legal Aid
10 Society's Homeless Family Rights Project and as
11 an associate counsel for the Puerto Rican Legal
12 Defense and Education Fund.
13 From 2002 to 2007, Ms. Rivera served
14 as a commissioner on the New York City Commission
15 on Human Rights. In 2007, she worked as a
16 Special Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights
17 under then New York State Attorney General
18 Andrew Cuomo.
19 My colleagues, Professor Rivera is
20 profoundly qualified. She may not be a litigator
21 in a white-shoe law firm on Wall Street, but she
22 is highly qualified to feel the needs and to
23 interpret the law for millions and millions of
24 New Yorkers that may not be as lucky as to work
25 in a white-shoe law firm on Wall Street.
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1 Professor Rivera is clearly
2 committed to public service. Her work assisting
3 the homeless and safeguarding low-income families
4 from eviction and discrimination speaks in a very
5 eloquent way, but it proves also the depth of her
6 character. She could have easily chosen to earn
7 more in the private sector, but she chose a
8 harder path as a scholar and an advocate.
9 She is a legal scholar, someone that
10 will bring a fresh and new view of the law while
11 constructing the law within its parameters to the
12 highest court of this state.
13 As a legal scholar, Professor Rivera
14 illustrated a deep understanding of the law and
15 her experience while she clerked under now
16 Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. There she
17 reviewed decisions, motions, and she did most of
18 the lawyering work that many across the aisle
19 fail to acknowledge her to have the experience
20 of.
21 I am proud to stand here with the
22 New York State Bar Association, with groups from
23 the diverse Latino community, including Latino
24 Justice, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the
25 Dominican Bar Association, the National
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1 Organization for Women, and many others. Can
2 they all be wrong? Can they all be wrong that
3 she is qualified? She is highly qualified, and
4 I'm here to support her nomination.
5 Professor Rivera's opponents may be
6 stalling her nomination for political purposes,
7 but the Court of Appeals presides on those issues
8 that affect millions of New Yorkers. We need her
9 intellect, judgment, and experience on the bench
10 immediately.
11 Thank you, Mr. President.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
13 Rivera. Senator Rivera.
14 SENATOR RIVERA: Rivera?
15 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Rivera.
16 (Laughter.)
17 SENATOR RIVERA: Thank you,
18 Mr. President.
19 Colleagues, I stand here today --
20 first of all, Professor Rivera, I welcome you to
21 our chamber, I welcome you and your family and
22 your colleagues. And I stand today to proudly
23 support this nomination, to thank the Governor
24 for his choice for this supremely qualified
25 person.
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1 And I would say to my colleagues
2 that I have a very deep, deep disagreement with
3 you. When you say that you want, that we want
4 the best, the brightest and most qualified:
5 There she is.
6 I would say that as a Bronx
7 resident, to me, that's what I call frosting on
8 the cake. The fact that she is as supremely
9 qualified as she is and, on top of that, that she
10 is in our wonderful borough, I'm very, very happy
11 about that. And I think that she will be a
12 valuable addition to the Court of Appeals of the
13 State of New York.
14 I do not believe, as my colleague
15 stated, that the Governor is practicing social
16 engineering. What I think the Governor is doing
17 is he wants to make sure that we have a court
18 that looks like the State of New York.
19 And actually I have a bit of trivia
20 for my colleagues. What do Chief Judge Judith
21 Kaye and Elena Kagan, who is now in the
22 Supreme Court, have in common with Jenny Rivera?
23 And if you can't guess, I'll give you a little
24 bit more of a clue. What do these three women
25 have in common with Robert Smith, who is also in
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1 the Court of Appeals? How about William
2 Rehnquist? Earl Warren? Louis Brandeis?
3 Felix Frankfurter?
4 Any and all of these folks who have
5 served with great distinction either in the
6 Court of Appeals or in the Supreme Court of the
7 United States, none of these folks had judicial
8 experience before they were nominated to either
9 of these courts.
10 So what we have before us is someone
11 that I can only hope will give us the same type
12 of decisions, decisions that will certainly
13 impact millions of New Yorkers for years to
14 come. Somebody who will bring her wide
15 experience, her broad experience, her diverse
16 experience into better understanding of the law
17 for the State of New York.
18 I proudly stand here in support of
19 this nomination and ask my colleagues to do the
20 same.
21 Thank you, Mr. President.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
23 Breslin.
24 SENATOR BRESLIN: Thank you,
25 Mr. President.
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1 I stand here as a member of the
2 Judiciary Committee, a member for over 16 years.
3 And I firmly believe that this candidate received
4 more scrutiny, more review, than any candidate I
5 have seen in those 16 years. And it is my
6 conclusion that she passed every test in a
7 tremendous way.
8 You know, we've heard repeated and
9 repeated that coming from Puerto Rico, Hispanic
10 parents, going to I believe St. Michael's
11 School -- we never, no other candidates got back
12 into the grade and high schools -- on to
13 Princeton, to NYU, to Columbia for a master's,
14 nine years of practice, years as a professor at
15 CUNY, two other stints as a visiting professor
16 elsewhere, a commissioner of human rights for the
17 City of New York appointed by Mayor Bloomberg,
18 working for the Attorney General in the Civil
19 Rights Division, supervising lawyers, an
20 administrative law judge, a clerk to Sonia
21 Sotomayor, and on and on and on.
22 And then, the culmination of that,
23 over five hours of testimony before our Judiciary
24 Committee. That's when I really saw a
25 performance, a performance of professionalism, a
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1 performance of, as I referred to it then at the
2 Judiciary Committee, the patience of Job, to
3 endure repetitive questions over and over and
4 over, where I came to the conclusion that I have
5 not seen someone with the kind of full and total
6 background of human life experiences, of
7 education, professional experiences, who is more
8 qualified for the Court of Appeals.
9 And I believe that we will look back
10 at this day as one of the most wonderful days,
11 because I think that Jenny Rivera will prove to
12 be one of the greatest of our Court of Appeals
13 judges. And I am very proud to say that this
14 may be the best decision I've made in my 16 years
15 on the Judiciary Committee by fully supporting
16 the candidacy of Jenny Rivera for the Court of
17 Appeals.
18 Thank you, Mr. President.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
20 you, Senator Breslin.
21 Senator Perkins.
22 SENATOR PERKINS: Thank you very
23 much for this opportunity.
24 I first want to take a moment to
25 acknowledge someone that is near and dear to me
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1 who joins us today, and we served together in the
2 City Council, Councilmember Bob Jackson. I just
3 want to recognize that he's here with us. In
4 fact, he sits with Jenny Rivera, and wanted to
5 make sure that he was here during this historic
6 moment in her support.
7 He also happens to be a part of a
8 group of crazy guys that run around doing
9 marathons in New York City.
10 But you know, there's this notion of
11 the old boys' network that keeps coming up in
12 these discussions. Which I'm concerned about
13 because, you know, it comes up -- I mean, social
14 engineering, which for me is another term for the
15 old boys' network. You know, and nobody seems to
16 have had a concern about that.
17 And I recently received a letter
18 from a friend of mine from the old boys' network,
19 someone who I attended school with at
20 Brown University, sort of the breeding ground of
21 that network. And he sent me a letter in support
22 of Ms. Rivera.
23 I'm not going to read it all, but I
24 just wanted to sort of bring forward the summary,
25 the concluding sentence. And he says: "Jenny
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1 Rivera would bring to the Court of Appeals her
2 keen intellect, insightful legal scholarship, and
3 a commitment to equal justice for all
4 New Yorkers. We believe that her overall
5 experience will serve the State of New York well
6 as associate judge."
7 This individual happens to be the
8 president of the New York State Bar Association,
9 Seymour W. James, Jr.
10 So it would seem to me that if
11 someone of such outstanding legal experience and
12 background -- similar to that which many of you
13 who object to her have -- could find her so
14 well-qualified, then I can't disagree. And I
15 can't imagine why anybody else would disagree,
16 except for the fact that perhaps she's not from
17 the old boys' network. And that's the type of
18 social engineering that we can't accept.
19 So I just wanted to make sure that I
20 stood in support of her and would hope that my
21 colleagues do the same.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
23 Smith.
24 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you very
25 much, Mr. President.
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1 And thank you, colleagues, thank
2 you, Senator Klein, for the nomination of
3 Jenny Rivera. And I thank all my colleagues who
4 have spoken before me, and so eloquently, in
5 terms of her background.
6 In particular, Senator Gustavo
7 Rivera went through a litany of justices that
8 have been on the bench and served with
9 distinction that had no prior bench experience.
10 And while I believe you heard him, I just want to
11 underscore those names again because of the level
12 of prominence they've reached in the legal
13 profession.
14 We all know about Justice Earl
15 Warren, we know what bench he sat on all. We
16 know about William Rehnquist -- probably one of
17 the major forefathers and authors of legal
18 precedence that many of you have followed and
19 used cases and decisions to determine your legal
20 argument -- as well as the person who served as
21 chief judge, Judith Kaye, who was very near and
22 dear to so many of us. None of which served on
23 the bench prior to being on that high court.
24 But you know, more importantly, I
25 had a quick moment this weekend -- and I'm just
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1 bringing in my little life experience -- and you
2 know we had bad weather. I was down shoveling
3 snow and did my neighbors' and everything else.
4 So after I was all said and done, I didn't have
5 nothing to do, I didn't go out to do any
6 political work because there was a lot of snow
7 and stuff, nobody was meeting. So I watched a
8 movie.
9 And after I saw this movie -- I'm
10 not going to get into what it was -- but what
11 happened during the movie is an individual went
12 through a tremendous amount of ordeal in pursuit
13 of what they thought was their career and what
14 should happen toward the pinnacle of it. And as
15 they went through all these trials and
16 tribulations, I thought about the hearings, I
17 thought about some other stuff. And there was
18 one profound statement that was made, I guess
19 somewhat in the middle of the movie and at the
20 end, and it was a simple three words. It said
21 "It is time."
22 So I say that to my colleagues
23 today: It is time. Jenny Rivera, clearly --
24 someone who graduated from Princeton, NYU,
25 Columbia -- it is time. Somebody who clerked for
480
1 Sonia Sotomayor, somebody who's a professor at
2 CUNY Law School, served as Deputy Attorney
3 General for Civil Rights, my colleagues, it is
4 time. Someone who also has the distinction of
5 understanding the relationship and the nexus
6 between the legal profession and common law in
7 everyday existence. My colleagues, it is time.
8 So I'm honored to stand here today,
9 Judge Rivera, if I can be so presumptuous, and
10 thank you for your willingness to serve on this
11 bench, which is not an easy thing to do. The
12 decisions that you will face are very critical
13 and they will dictate the future of this state.
14 But I say to the Governor, I say to
15 Senator Klein, to Senator Bonacic, you're doing
16 the right thing today, because it is time.
17 Thank you, Mr. President.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
19 you, Senator Smith.
20 Senator Krueger.
21 SENATOR KRUEGER: Thank you,
22 Mr. President.
23 So my colleagues have gone over in
24 broad detail the incredible qualifications of
25 Professor Rivera. And I actually as a politician
481
1 usually explain that I don't get involved with
2 endorsing people for judge. What do I know about
3 being a judge? I'm not even a lawyer.
4 But I have gotten letters and calls
5 from almost everyone you can imagine who
6 represents different fields of law -- private law
7 firms, corporation counsel, deputy mayors,
8 organizations who in fact specialize in
9 evaluating judges. So I have no questions about
10 Professor Rivera's qualifications.
11 So I just wanted to stand up and say
12 I know Professor Rivera from when she was
13 starting out with the Legal Aid Society and then
14 the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund
15 back in the '80s, when we were both much, much
16 younger.
17 And so on top of her being an
18 amazingly qualified candidate to be sent to us
19 for confirmation today, she is also an incredibly
20 solid human being who cares about the people of
21 this state, who will never do anything but make
22 us unbelievably proud as a jurist on the highest
23 court of New York State, because her entire
24 career -- before I think she ever imagined being
25 a law professor or moving to the bench -- her
482
1 entire career has been one committed to the
2 people of New York State, making sure they have
3 the opportunity to be protected under our laws
4 and that our laws are upheld at the highest and
5 most complicated standard.
6 So a little bit in advance, I want
7 to thank Professor Rivera for what I know will be
8 an amazing career on our highest court.
9 Thank you very much. I vote yes,
10 Mr. President.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
12 Diaz.
13 SENATOR DIAZ: Thank you,
14 Mr. President.
15 I'm going to follow Bill Perkins'
16 lead by recognizing members of the Legislature
17 that are here. And over there we see Assemblyman
18 José Rivera and Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. So
19 they are here, I could imagine, or I imagine,
20 supporting the nomination of Jenny Rivera.
21 I remember when George Bush was the
22 president, and I remember that he nominated two
23 judges, Hispanics, Alberto Gonzales and Miguel
24 Estrada, a Republican president nominating
25 Hispanic judges.
483
1 And I remember how the
2 Democratic Party and how the members of the
3 Judiciary Committee in the Senate jumped all over
4 those candidates. I remember how badly
5 criticized were those candidates by the
6 Democratic Senate because they were nominated by
7 a Republican president.
8 But I also remember -- no, I don't,
9 no. No, I don't remember, I don't remember the
10 Hispanic community, the Hispanic media and the
11 Hispanic elected officials rising up to defend
12 those well-qualified judges. But because they
13 were nominated by a Republican president, and
14 maybe because they were Republican, the Hispanic
15 pride, the Hispanic heritage was neglected by
16 everyone. Nobody cares.
17 I am a Puerto Rican, born and raised
18 in Bayamón, in Barrio La Cuchilla, Bayamón,
19 Puerto Rico. And I live in Bronx County. And if
20 you want to appoint, if you want to nominate, if
21 you want to get a good judge of Hispanic descent,
22 come to the Bronx. We have plenty. Well
23 qualified, with a lot of experience, with all the
24 qualifications that will make us in the Hispanic
25 community proud.
484
1 See, when President Obama nominated
2 Judge Sotomayor, that was a hit. Everybody
3 jumped, and that was really because he got the
4 best in the community.
5 In the Bronx we have Luis Gonzalez,
6 with a lot of experience. Puerto Rican, like
7 me. In New York City we have Rolando Acosta.
8 Dominican, like you {to Senator Espaillat}. We
9 have, in New York City, Judge Faviola Soto, the
10 first Dominican woman to be elected to the
11 Supreme Court. In the Bronx we have Sallie
12 Manzanet. We have Nelson Roman, Lucindo Suarez,
13 Ruben Franco, George Villegas. We have plenty in
14 the Bronx.
15 So when anyone stands up and
16 questions and ask questions why, members of my
17 community jump and say that's racism, that's
18 discrimination.
19 That was a good move by Governor
20 Cuomo. You know, Governor Cuomo is the one
21 winning here. It's good for his presidential
22 ambitions, because he put the Hispanic media and
23 the Hispanic community and leaders to fight
24 against non-Hispanic and against the Republicans,
25 saying "Oh, the Republicans."
485
1 This is not about Republicans. This
2 is not about Dominicans. This is about the best
3 in our community. This is what is best what is
4 something -- see, Judge Rivera will be appointed
5 today. She will be appointed, there's no
6 question about it. The only question is that all
7 the media and everybody is talking about if she
8 is or is she not qualified, if she's a judge, if
9 she worked only one year for Judge Sotomayor, if
10 she has all the credentials. And she will be
11 appointed.
12 But that's uncalled for. Because we
13 have judges in our community that could have been
14 appointed, and none of it has happened. None of
15 it has gone through.
16 I was a member of the
17 Judiciary Committee for many years until this
18 year that -- Sampson appointed me to the
19 Judiciary Committee, and I was a member of the
20 Judiciary Committee until this year that my new
21 boss removed me. It was you, Mike Gianaris.
22 Somebody removed me from that committee. That's
23 okay. I've been kicked out of better places in
24 my life.
25 So, ladies and gentlemen, whatever
486
1 happens here today -- and I'm pretty sure that
2 Judge Jenny Rivera will be nominated -- we all
3 have to know and the people have to know that
4 there is nothing wrong, nothing wrong by
5 questioning, by saying what is your credentials,
6 you should be a better candidate or should have
7 done other or whatever.
8 So I am not taking this as an act of
9 racism or discrimination or Republican -- because
10 I -- I was hurt and angry when George Bush
11 appointed Alberto Gonzales and Miguel Estrada and
12 none of the Hispanic community, none of the
13 Hispanic newspapers, none of the Hispanic media
14 came to defend those judges.
15 So today the Governor has achieved
16 something very important. All the Hispanic
17 media, even Channel 47 {in Spanish} is here. And
18 tonight the Governor is going to say, Oh, a
19 triumph.
20 If the Governor wanted -- if the
21 Governor really, really, really wanted a
22 Hispanic, Luis Gonzalez, Rolando Acosta, Faviola
23 Soto, Sallie Manzanet, Nelson Roman, Lucindo
24 Suarez, Ruben Franco, George Villegas would have
25 gone through, smooth, through the committee. I'm
487
1 pretty sure that Senator Bonacic and the members
2 of the committee would not have questioned them
3 as they did to Jenny Rivera.
4 So, ladies and gentlemen, stop the
5 nonsense and stop this pitting communities
6 against other communities. And there's nothing
7 wrong about questioning people. Questioning
8 credentials or questioning experience.
9 To Judge Jenny Rivera, I wish her
10 well. She will be appointed today. And to those
11 of you that has come all the way from the city
12 and from all over to support her, where were you
13 when George Bush nominated Alberto Gonzales and
14 Miguel Estrada?
15 Thank you, Mr. President.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
17 Adams.
18 SENATOR ADAMS: Thank you,
19 Mr. President.
20 You know, I'm going to thank
21 Senator Perkins and Senator Rivera for their
22 comments, because it made me think of two points
23 in my law enforcement career.
24 The first was when I was a rookie
25 and I walked inside the precinct and I saw the
488
1 officers who were there, they were walking, and
2 they would kick the side of the soda machine and
3 get a free soda. And I saw this for about a
4 week. And then one day I came in, I kicked the
5 machine, I got a free soda. The next day a
6 repairman was there fixing that machine.
7 And then I think about Police
8 Commissioner Bernie Kerik. Mayor Giuliani
9 appointed him. He had a high school equivalency
10 diploma, jumped over all of these experienced men
11 and women because Giuliani felt he was the right
12 person.
13 This term "experience and
14 qualification" is something that's defined by
15 others and not the person who's making the
16 decision who they want to sit on the court.
17 The Governor decided. He made the
18 determination based on what he believed is needed
19 to make the court the type of court that we need
20 to move into the new century.
21 Those old schools of thought that
22 are looking down on people because they say they
23 are community organizers that rise to become the
24 president, that look down on people who have
25 everyday experience in their homes -- I think
489
1 street credibility counts for something.
2 That may not fit your criteria in
3 experience. But I think a person who walks a
4 beat, a person who grew up in public housing, a
5 person who had to go through the grueling task of
6 rising to the point where they are -- if you look
7 under Judge Rivera's fingernails, you will see
8 the dirt and grime of climbing up the mountain of
9 opportunity one hand at a time. Many of you,
10 your family members have done the same thing.
11 This is the right choice. I support
12 that choice. And I'm sure members here on both
13 sides of the aisle know this is the right
14 choice. She will do this state proud.
15 Congratulations to you, Judge.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
17 Squadron.
18 SENATOR SQUADRON: Thank you very
19 much, Mr. President.
20 Look, this has been talked about
21 extensively today and over the extensive
22 hearings. Professor Rivera's qualifications are
23 in fact stellar. Her professional experience,
24 from serving with great distinction as the head
25 of the AG's Civil Rights Bureau to years focusing
490
1 on civil rights law and civil litigation, is
2 critically important.
3 This idea that suddenly the number
4 of trials that you've gone through is the
5 qualification is in conflict with the way that we
6 always choose and measure judges.
7 But there's one other point that I
8 want to make that hasn't been made today.
9 Professor Rivera grew up in my district, in a
10 place called the Baruch Houses, which is a public
11 housing development in the heart of the
12 Lower East Side. And let me tell you, it's a
13 tough place. It was a tough place when
14 Professor Rivera was growing up, it's still a
15 tough place today.
16 People don't come out of
17 Baruch Houses and have the career that
18 Professor Rivera has had just by skating by.
19 That is not a thin qualification. It is an
20 extraordinary personal story, and a meaningful
21 one.
22 The fact that Professor Rivera came
23 from the heart of the Lower East Side, came from
24 a tough public housing development and has had
25 the career she has and has now been nominated and
491
1 put forward by the Governor to serve on the
2 state's highest court, is in and of itself, in
3 addition to the other qualifications, an
4 important one. And it is an inspirational one.
5 And so I hope that today, while
6 we're all up here making our speeches, there are
7 kids on the Lower East Side, there are kids in
8 Baruch Houses and the other public housing
9 developments, kids whose parents have just come
10 here from lands far away, who are watching.
11 Because it's not easy, and you have to have an
12 extraordinary work ethic and some pretty
13 extraordinary talent, as Professor Rivera shows.
14 But it is possible to rise from that place, from
15 that tough, tough life on the Lower East Side to
16 the state's highest court.
17 It's a wonderful moment, and one
18 that I hope many kids across the state and
19 certainly on the Lower East Side will take to
20 heart.
21 Thank you, Professor Rivera, for
22 that experience. Thank you for serving. Thank
23 you for agreeing to serve. And I look forward to
24 voting aye for your nomination.
25 Thank you, Mr. President.
492
1 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
2 you, Senator Squadron.
3 Senator Serrano.
4 SENATOR SERRANO: Thank you very
5 much, Mr. President.
6 I rise in support of the nominee.
7 And I won't repeat so much of what's already been
8 said.
9 But in looking over the
10 qualifications of the candidate, what strikes me
11 is the amount of experience, grassroots legal
12 experience, that the nominee has. And to me,
13 that is something that sets her apart, something
14 that helps her to understand the very people and
15 situations that she will eventually be sitting in
16 judgment of.
17 Because it won't be numbers, books
18 or accounts that she will be sitting in judgment
19 of, it will be humanity. It will be real
20 situations. And her experience, her resume
21 speaks to the level of humanity that she has and
22 that she's experienced over the years.
23 So I stand in support because I
24 believe she'll be a tremendous judge and she will
25 excel on the Court of Appeals.
493
1 Thank you.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank you,
3 Senator Serrano.
4 Senator Sampson.
5 SENATOR SAMPSON: Thank you very
6 much, Mr. President.
7 I rise in support of this
8 nomination. And when I see Professor Rivera, I
9 see a woman who has a wealth of life experience,
10 someone who may have been born in poverty but did
11 not stay in poverty. Someone who educated
12 themselves to the point where she has been
13 nominated to the Court of Appeals.
14 And, you know, I respect my
15 colleague Senator Bonacic, the chair of the
16 Judiciary Committee, because he really takes
17 these nominations, these appointments very
18 seriously. And we're looking to make sure that
19 we get the best and the brightest on the bench.
20 And, you know, when we talk about
21 social engineering, to me it's not social
22 engineering, it's called diversity. It's about
23 making sure that we have a body that is
24 reflective of all people in the State of
25 New York.
494
1 We can talk about experience. You
2 know, the bottom line is this. When you're a
3 justice, associate judge on the Court of Appeals,
4 you have three things that you look at: Merit,
5 the rule of law, and precedent. That's what you
6 base your decisions upon. You can be a professor
7 in academia, you can be a litigator, but most of
8 all, if you do not have the ability and
9 understand that irrespective of your background,
10 irrespective of your ideology, we're taught that
11 you guide on three principles when making a
12 decision. And these decisions have to be based
13 upon three principles.
14 And I can understand my colleague's
15 concern about the question of judicial activism.
16 But when you're a professor, you always want to
17 provoke thought in all of your students. You
18 want them to -- and we all have that opportunity,
19 especially as litigators. Especially, we look
20 for something that's not there so we can
21 represent our clients to the fullest extent.
22 So, Professor Rivera, I want to
23 commend you on doing something that a lot of
24 people have had the opportunity to, but you have
25 excelled about that, and that is making sure you
495
1 never forget where you come from.
2 So I want to thank you, because you
3 could have went to a white-shoe law firm, you
4 could have been a partner in one of those big law
5 firms. But you chose to be a professor who
6 understands it is important to shape the minds of
7 the young people that we are looking forward to
8 represent us throughout this state and throughout
9 this country.
10 So I just want to congratulate the
11 nominee on hopefully her appointment to the Court
12 of Appeals.
13 Thank you very much, Mr. President.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
15 DeFrancisco.
16 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes.
17 Sometimes we lose sight, I believe, of what the
18 purpose of our being in a particular position and
19 what our responsibility is. And sometimes in
20 this job emotions are high on both sides of an
21 issue. But each one of us, I believe, is trying
22 to make a decision in good faith based upon what
23 the issue may be.
24 In this case, the issue is whether
25 or not this individual should be confirmed as a
496
1 Court of Appeals appointee. Nothing more,
2 nothing less. And the responsibility of the
3 State Senate and each Senator, based on his or
4 her particular feelings, is to make a
5 determination on that point.
6 Now, there's been much said about a
7 woman who had a dream and came from the public
8 housing and had all of this background, in the
9 trenches on the issues that she dealt with. But
10 I kind of think -- I may be wrong, because I
11 hadn't talked to any of these people -- but the
12 other potential nominees, Sheila Abdus-Salaam, I
13 think she probably had a dream at one time in her
14 life too, to become a member of the highest court
15 of this state.
16 Or how about Rolando Acosta? I
17 think he probably had a dream sometime -- I don't
18 know where he came from or what his upbringing
19 was -- to become a member of the highest court of
20 the State of New York.
21 And I can go through the entire
22 list, or the list of individuals that Senator
23 Diaz mentioned. I'm sure they had a dream. And
24 I'm sure their circumstances growing up were
25 probably difficult as well.
497
1 Now, that's all very interesting,
2 and it's all something that people can consider.
3 But it seems to me that this appointment to the
4 highest court of the state, you've got to pick
5 the best possible and confirm the best possible
6 candidates for that particular position. No
7 matter what their aspirations during their
8 lifetime may be, but what they have accomplished
9 during their lifetime.
10 And with a Court of Appeals judge,
11 it's not just deciding issues on what you've
12 studied in one narrow area of the law. The
13 broader the experience or the judicial experience
14 that you have bodes well for you in getting that
15 nomination, I thought. I thought.
16 Now, I think what people who happen
17 to be -- including myself -- who happen to be
18 voting no are voting on is that this is not the
19 best candidate, period. There's all kinds of
20 wonderful attributes that this candidate has --
21 but in comparison to the other potential nominees
22 that are out there, then that is a decision that
23 everybody has to make.
24 I think if you don't have judicial
25 experience, you at least have to have a broad
498
1 range of experience in the courtroom because
2 you're going to make decisions on a broad range
3 of things. But that's my particular point of
4 view.
5 I for one don't believe that there
6 should be an Italian-American seat, an Hispanic
7 seat. And then according to her own writings, is
8 that Hispanic seat Puerto Rican, is it Mexican,
9 is it whatever subclassifications, according to
10 her own writing? There just isn't enough seats
11 on the Court of Appeals to do that. But that's
12 the way I believe. That's the way I believe.
13 However, if the decision is made
14 that this is going to be an Hispanic that is
15 going to be appointed by the Governor of the
16 State of New York -- and that's obvious, no one
17 can deny that -- then shouldn't it be the best
18 possible candidate that he could appoint? And I
19 don't think this candidate is the is the best.
20 Now, I hope the Governor -- I'm
21 sure -- I don't know what he'll do, but he may
22 take affront at my remarks. I have stood here
23 for every nominee, whether it's for a judge,
24 whether it's from the Finance Committee,
25 consistently praising the Governor on his
499
1 decisions because he's made some phenomenal
2 appointments to key positions in the State of
3 New York. The Court of Appeals position is
4 something that we should hang very high and get
5 the best possible qualifications.
6 Lastly, as a lawyer who did a lot of
7 trial work, I struggled for years trying to
8 interpret decisions of the court. I struggled
9 for years. I know Appellate Division judges and
10 trial-level judges struggle to try to interpret
11 the writings of the Court of Appeals: What did
12 they mean by that? What's the legal precedent
13 mean?
14 And with all due respect, I've read
15 her writings, because I haven't -- there's no
16 judicial decisions, and I don't think they're
17 clear. I don't think they're precise. I don't
18 think they're going to be able to give the
19 guidance that lower courts and lawyers will need.
20 So for the simple reason in this
21 particular case, my job is to determine whether
22 or not I believe this person should be elevated
23 to the Court of Appeals. I do not believe so.
24 There are many other Hispanics, many other -- and
25 other ethnic groups that certainly are more
500
1 qualified.
2 So for that reason and those reasons
3 that I just mentioned, and much of what Senator
4 John Bonacic had said earlier, I'm going to vote
5 no.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The
7 question is on the nomination of Jenny Rivera to
8 the New York State Court of Appeals. All present
9 signify by saying aye if you are in favor.
10 (Response of "Aye.")
11 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Nay if
12 opposed.
13 (Response of "Nay.")
14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Senator
15 Montgomery, why do you rise?
16 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: I would like
17 to explain my vote.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I will
19 allow you the opportunity to speak.
20 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you.
21 Mr. President, I have personally not
22 met Jenny Rivera, but I see her qualifications
23 and I've heard my colleagues speak so eloquently
24 on all of them. And I certainly appreciate the
25 many years that she has had and the depth and
501
1 breadth of her experience, so I'm happy to
2 support this nomination.
3 I, having had the experience myself
4 as an African-American woman, when you get to the
5 certain point where it's time for you to break
6 the ceiling or move up, they say you just didn't
7 have the right experience, you didn't have that
8 many years enough, you didn't have the proper
9 experience -- there's always an excuse. This is
10 the oldest line in the book when you don't want
11 to vote or to allow someone to move in position.
12 So, Mr. President, I don't know her
13 personally, but I am very proud to be able to
14 stand here today in this chamber and vote for a
15 woman who is eminently qualified to be on the
16 Court of Appeals. I vote aye.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Thank
18 you, Senator Montgomery.
19 Having heard the ayes and the nays,
20 having called for them and heard them, the ayes
21 have it. Jenny Rivera is hereby confirmed as a
22 New York State Court of Appeals judge.
23 (Sustained applause.)
24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: May I
25 have order, please.
502
1 On behalf of the Senate of the State
2 of New York, we'd like to extend our
3 congratulations and best wishes to Professor
4 Rivera. Professor Rivera is here today with her
5 domestic partner, Audie Serrano, as well as close
6 friends and colleagues from the CUNY law system.
7 Congratulations again, Professor
8 Rivera, and good luck.
9 (Applause.)
10 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: May I
11 have order in the chamber.
12 Senator Libous.
13 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
14 Mr. President. We do have a calendar to go
15 over.
16 Could we please have the reading of
17 the noncontroversial calendar.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The
19 Secretary will read.
20 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 15,
21 by Senator Fuschillo, Senate Print 772, an act to
22 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read the
24 last section.
25 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
503
1 act shall take effect immediately.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call the
3 roll.
4 (The Secretary called the roll.)
5 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Announce
6 the results.
7 THE SECRETARY: In relation to
8 Calendar Number 15, those recorded in the
9 negative are Senators Adams, Espaillat, Gipson,
10 Hoylman, Montgomery, Perkins, Squadron and
11 Tkaczyk. Also Senator --
12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: I'm going
13 to ask for order in the house. Please leave the
14 chamber if you're conducting business. Members,
15 please take your seats.
16 THE SECRETARY: Also Senator
17 Parker.
18 Ayes, 52. Nays, 9.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The bill
20 is passed.
21 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 18,
22 by Senator Marcellino, Senate Print 1519, an act
23 to amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read the
25 last section.
504
1 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This
2 act shall take effect on the 120th day.
3 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call the
4 roll.
5 (The Secretary called the roll.)
6 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The bill
8 is passed.
9 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 19,
10 by Senator DeFrancisco, Senate Print 1790, an act
11 to amend the Navigation Law.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read the
13 last section.
14 THE SECRETARY: Section 5. This
15 act shall take effect on the 120th day.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call the
17 roll.
18 (The Secretary called the roll.)
19 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The bill
21 is passed.
22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 20,
23 by Senator Bonacic, Senate Print 1878, an act to
24 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read the
505
1 last section.
2 THE SECRETARY: Section 3. This
3 act shall take effect immediately.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call the
5 roll.
6 (The Secretary called the roll.)
7 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 60. Nays,
8 1. Senator Parker recorded in the negative.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The bill
10 is passed.
11 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 21,
12 by Senator Addabbo, Senate Print 1919, an act to
13 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read the
15 last section.
16 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This act
17 shall take effect immediately.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call the
19 roll.
20 (The Secretary called the roll.)
21 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61.
22 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The bill
23 is passed.
24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23,
25 by Senator Golden, Senate Print 2503, an act to
506
1 amend the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Read the
3 last section.
4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This
5 act shall take effect on the first of November.
6 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: Call the
7 roll.
8 (The Secretary called the roll.)
9 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays,
10 2. Senators Montgomery and Parker recorded in
11 the negative.
12 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: The bill
13 is passed.
14 Senator Libous, that completes the
15 noncontroversial reading of the calendar.
16 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
17 Mr. President.
18 Is there any further business at the
19 desk?
20 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: There is
21 no further business before the desk.
22 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President, at
23 this time, on behalf of Senator Klein,
24 Senator Skelos, I hand up the following committee
25 assignments and ask that such assignments be
507
1 filed in the Journal.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: So
3 ordered.
4 Senator Libous.
5 SENATOR LIBOUS: Mr. President,
6 there being no further business, I move that the
7 Senate adjourn until Tuesday, February 12th, at
8 11:00 a.m.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT GRIFFO: On
10 motion, the Senate stands adjourned until
11 Tuesday, February 12th, at 11:00 a.m.
12 Senate adjourned.
13 (Whereupon, at 4:59 p.m., the Senate
14 adjourned.)
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25