In January, a federal court judge, John Gleeson, ruled that New York’s process for choosing Supreme Court Judges violates voters’ and candidates’ rights by giving too much power to county party leaders. Surrogate Judge Margarita Lopez-Torres, who brought the suit, says she lost the support of the Brooklyn Democratic Party after refusing to hire Assemblymember Vito Lopez's daughter.
The best process for selecting judges was debated at a panel discussion earlier this year. Currently, the parties choose a candidate for Supreme Court, and run them in the general election, skipping a primary.
In Monday's debate, the Democratic candidates were asked what approach they would take to reforming the selection of Supreme Court Justices. The decision is under appeal, and it is likely that the solution could fall to the legislature.
Kavanaugh supported the creation of screening panels to vet the quality of judicial candidates, as did Friedman, pointing to the Manhattan Democratic Party's process as a model. The State Democratic Party is looking to expand that model across the state.
They both supported primaries, but only if measures to ensure democracy accompanied the reform, although they offered no policy suggestions.
Last February, a bill passed the Senate scrapping judicial conventions in favor of primaries, and some good government groups supported it, but called for public financing and a redrawing of district lines to better facilitate ease of campaigning for candidates.