New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division

 

New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Court information
Judges:	60
Salary:	Associates: $245,100
Judicial selection
Method:	Commission-selection, political appointment
Term:	5 years, or end of supreme court term

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division

Justices of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Department 2

Justices of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Department 3

Justices of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Department 4

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division is the intermediate appellate court in New York. It is the appellate arm of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The appellate division is composed of four departments.

Each department of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, resolves appeals from the superior courts in civil and criminal cases. The appellate division also reviews civil appeals taken from the lower courts functioning as appellate courts. For the first and second departments, established in New York City, the lower courts are the Appellate Terms. For the third and fourth departments, the lower courts are the county courts. The appellate division can review questions of law and fact, and it can make new findings of fact. The appellate division hears some original cases along with the appeals originating in the lower appellate courts.

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, is the court of last resort in most cases.

• Published decisions of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, can be found at each individual department's website, listed here.

Justices

The judges of the court are referred to as "justices." They serve 14-year terms from and including the January 1st following their election to the supreme court and may serve until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

First department

The following justices serve in the first judicial department:

• Presiding Justice Rolando Acosta
  

David Friedman Ellen Gesmer Judith J. Gische Lizbeth Gonzalez Barbara R. Kapnick Tanya Kennedy Cynthia Kern Sallie Manzanet-Daniels Angela Mazzarelli

Manuel J. Mendez Peter H. Moulton Jeffrey Oing Rosalyn Richter Saliann Scarpulla Martin Shulman Anil C. Singh Dianne Renwick Troy K. Webber

Second department

The following justices serve in the second judicial department:

• Presiding Justice Alan D. Scheinkman
  

Leonard Austin Ruth Balkin Betsy Barros Cheryl Chambers Jeffrey A. Cohen Francesca Connolly Linda Christopher Paul Wooten Mark Dillon Colleen Duffy Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix

Angela G. Iannacci Hector D. LaSalle John Leventhal Joseph J. Maltese William Mastro Robert J. Miller Valerie Brathwaite Nelson Reinaldo Rivera Sheri. S. Roman

Third department

The following justices serve in the third judicial department:

• Presiding Justice Elizabeth A. Garry
  

Sharon A. M. Aarons Christine Clark John Colangelo John C. Egan

Michael C. Lynch Robert C. Mulvey Stan L. Pritzker

Fourth department

The following justices serve in the fourth judicial department:

• Presiding Justice Gerald J. Whalen
  

Tracey A. Bannister Edward Carni John Centra John M. Curran Stephen Lindley

Patrick H. NeMoyer Erin Peradotto Nancy Smith Shirley Troutman Joanne M. Winslow

Former justices

Note: The following list is not exhaustive. It reflects retired justices for whom we currently have pages.

Richard Andrias John Buckley Anthony Cardona Joseph Covello Darcel D. Clark Leland DeGrasse Brian F. DeJoseph Eugene Devine Luis Gonzalez Jerome Gorski Samuel Green Marcy L. Kahn Michael Kavanagh Bernard Malone

Salvatore Martoche James McGuire Howard Miller Karla Moskowitz Eugene Nardelli Elizabeth Pine Gail Prudenti Phillip R. Rumsey Fred Santucci Rose H. Sconiers Peter Skelos John Sweeny Peter Tom

Judicial selection

The justices of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, are appointed by the governor from a list of nominees submitted by a nominating commission. The nominees are selected from the elected justices of the supreme court. The length of a justice's term with the appellate division is either five years or until the end of the justice's term on the supreme court, whichever is shorter. Justices are retained using the same appointment process, and subsequent terms are also five years.

For details about judicial selection in New York, visit the Judicial selection in New York page.

Qualifications

To serve on the supreme court, a individual must:

• be a state resident;
• have practiced in New York for at least 10 years;
• be at least 18 and at most 70

Salary

The annual salary for justices of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division has been $177,900 since 2014.

Ethics

The chief administrator of the courts promulgates rules concerning judicial conduct to set forth ethical guidelines and principles for the conduct of judges and judicial candidates in New York. There are five rules encompassing Part 100 of the rules of the chief administrator of the courts:

• Section 100.1: "A judge shall uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary."
• Section 100.2: "A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge's activities."
• Section 100.3: "A judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially and diligently."
• Section 100.4: "A judge shall so conduct the judge's extra-judicial activities as to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial obligations."
• Section 100.5: "A judge or candidate for elective judicial office shall refrain from inappropriate political activity."

The full text of the rules concerning judicial conduct can be found here.

Removal of justices

Justices on the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, may be removed in one of three ways:

• By the commission on judicial conduct; removal is subject to review by the court of appeals
• By a vote of two thirds of both houses of the legislature
• Impeachment by a majority vote of the assembly, plus removal by two-thirds vote of the court for the trial of impeachments; the court consists of the president of the senate, the senators and the judges of the court of appeals.

Cardozo criticisms

Michael Cardozo, the top legal adviser to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said in a speech in December 2009 that while the state's trial judges are overworked and underpaid, they are also responsible for delays in decisions. Cardozo said that the "entire culture must be changed" to "improve judicial accountability and, with it, judicial performance." In response, 18 of 20 justices of the First Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court published a letter in the New York Law Journal sharply dissenting from the tenor of Cardozo's remarks, saying that the remarks were “insulting,” “imperious” and “misguided”. Luis Gonzalez said, “We felt compelled to speak on behalf of the trial judges. Sometimes they may feel a lot more constrained, maybe even handcuffed, in response to criticism.

Noteworthy cases

• Courtroom Weekly: Trust fund kitty gets the last meow, December 12, 2013

State profile

Demographic data for New York
	New York	U.S.
Total population:	19,747,183	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	47,126	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	64.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	15.6%	12.6%
Asian:	8%	5.1%
Native American:	0.4%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.9%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	18.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85.6%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	34.2%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$59,269	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	18.5%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in New York. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in New York

New York voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, 18 are located in New York, accounting for 8.74 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. New York had 14 Retained Pivot Counties and four Boomerang Pivot Counties, accounting for 7.73 and 16.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More New York coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in New York
• United States congressional delegations from New York
• Public policy in New York
• Endorsers in New York
• New York fact checks
• More...

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms New York Supreme Court Appellate Division. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division - Google News

See also

New York	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in New York State of New York Court of Appeals New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division	Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in New York	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

• New York Law Journal, "Cuomo fills 4 appellate division vacancies," January 21, 2014
• NYCourts.gov, "New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division"
• NYCourts.gov, "Justices of the First Department"
• NYCourts.gov, "Justices of the Second Department"
• NYCourts.gov, "Justices of the Third Department"
• NYCourts.gov, "Justices of the Fourth Department"
• Wall Street Journal Blog, "Gov. Cuomo set to shape New York’s bench," November 9, 2011
• readmedia.com, "Former judge George Marlow receives Franklin P. Gavin Award," 06/27/2011

Footnotes

New York courts

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Federal courts:

Second Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of New York, Western District of New York, Northern District of New York, Southern District of New York • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of New York, Western District of New York, Northern District of New York, Southern District of New York

State courts:

New York Court of Appeals • New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division • New York Supreme Court • New York County Courts • New York City Courts • New York Town and Village Courts • New York Family Courts • New York Surrogates' Courts • New York City Civil Court • New York City Criminal Courts • New York Court of Claims • New York Problem Solving Courts

State resources:

Courts in New York • New York judicial elections • Judicial selection in New York