Courts

Manhattan Court Moves To Trimmed Down Schedule Over Judge Shortage

Justice will move just that much slower.

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It’ll be that much harder to schedule hearings in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department starting in January. As reported by Law.com, the court announced beginning in January 2020, the number of weekly oral argument sessions will be just two, reduced from three.

This change is a result of a number of vacancies on the court. Earlier this year, Presiding Justice Rolando Acosta also announced that panels would be shrunk — from five judges to four. In a statement, the court left open the prospect of returning to normal operating procedures when the vacancies are filled:

A spokesman for the state courts said appeals court leadership “must balance the time that the court hears oral arguments with conference and chambers time for the associate justices.”

“As the court returns to its full complement of judges, Justice Acosta will modify the oral argument sessions as appropriate,” Lucian Chalfen said in an emailed statement.

There are currently three unfilled seats on the court, plus there’ll be three more vacancies in 2020 with the upcoming retirements of Associate Justices Peter Tom and John Sweeney Jr. and Associate Justice Rosalyn Richter’s plan to step down in the summer.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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