NYC NOW - April 11, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

Eyes are still on New Jersey as thousands of faculty members are on strike for a second day at Rutgers University. WNYC’s Karen Yi speaks with some of the students who have now joined their professors on the picket line. Also, WNYC’s Albany reporter Jon Campbell speaks with host Sean Carlson about Governor Kathy Hochul’s pick for the state’s top judge…again. Originally the governor nominated Hector LaSalle to become chief judge of the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. But the Senate’s Democratic majority rejected LaSalle after concern about his judicial record. Now, Hochul is trying again, this time with Rowan Wilson. If confirmed, Wilson’s appointment could end months of Democratic infighting over Hochul’s previous selection.

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre for WNYC. We have bargained and bargained and bargained and bargained and bargained. And we're not getting anywhere and we need to do something more. Eyes are still on New Jersey as thousands of faculty members at Rutgers University strike for a second day after contract negotiations with the administration stalled. On Monday, many students walked into empty. classrooms. Evie Shockley is a tenured full-time literature professor who canceled her class

and office hours. She says her students have been supportive. When I told them, you know, you won't see me here, I'll be on the picket line. They burst into spontaneous applause, which was really encouraging and affirming. Now many students are joining their professors on the picket line. WNYC's Karen Yee has more. During a rally at the New Brunswick campus, professors and graduate workers crowd around the speakers. Chanting and cheering for better pay, health care, and job security, especially for part-time lecturers. But past faculty members holding signs and the dogs dressed in union shirts and red Rutgers collars, students are staging their own creative form of protest.

Instead of a sign, sophomore Ariel Vera brought a chess board. It is just kind of funny how, like, they're just kind of funny how, like, they're not. You're just talking and then we're just sitting here contemplating the next move. He calls it picket chess. Sophomore Anne is blowing bubbles while hunkering down in the shade of her umbrella. I feel like a lot of this is kind of heavy and sometimes you, I don't know, a lot of us need a little bit of happiness in our lives. So bubbles, bubbles are great. Graduate student Mitchell Edwards is making posters on demand with a water bottle, watercolor ink, and wooden block prints.

Protest always requires print. Usually with whatever materials and methods are on hand, political labor expression finds its tools, and sometimes it happens to be a miniature printing press. As a student, he's studying... Ironically enough, 20th century American culture, protest, radicalism, and printing. So this feels appropriate. He's also a teaching assistant, earning $30,000 a year.

If the union demands are met, his pay would go up to $37,000, though he says he'll probably keep working his two other jobs to make ends meet. As the rally winds down and union leaders pledged to pick it every day this week, another student is playing to a different tune on an Appalachian folk instrument that he says was used in labor songs during coal mining protests. Many instructors praised their students for joining the protests, saying it's a productive way to spend time, they would have otherwise spent in class. Karen Yee, WNYC News. Now to Albany, where New York Governor Kathy Hokel has unveiled her pick for the state's top judge again. Originally, the governor nominated Hector LaSalle to become chief judge of the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

But the state's Senate's Democratic majority rejected LaSelle in February after expressing concern about his judicial record. Now, Hockel is giving it another try. Earlier this week, the governor nominated Rowan Wilson for Chief Judge. If confirmed, the selection could put an end to months of Democratic infighting over Hockel's previous selection. For more, my colleague, Sean Carlson, talked with WNYC's Albany reporter, John Campbell. Tell us about Rowan Wilson. Who is he? So Rowan Wilson, he's already a member of the Court of Appeals.

He's been an associate judge there since 2017 when he was appointed by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and confirmed by the Senate, which was actually in Republican hands at the time. Before that, he was a private attorney for decades, and he's really built up a reputation as a reliably liberal member of the court. He often writes dissenting opinions that lean left, including when the court threw out the Democrat drawn congressional maps before last year's elections. He was in favor of leaving them in place. If he's confirmed by the Senate, he'll continue to serve as one of the seven court of appeals judges. That's a really important role. Those are decisions that are made by that court have statewide precedent. But he'll also immediately step into the role of Chief Judge, which puts him in charge of the entire state judicial branch.

That includes the whole state and local court system. It's got a budget of more than $2 billion. And on top of all that, he'd make history. Judge Wilson, he would be the first black person to serve as New York's top judge. John, we saw what happened to Governor Holtz's last pick for Chief Judge. Is the Senate going to confirm Rowan Wilson? So far, it's looking good for Rowan Wilson. Immediately after Governor Hockel announced her pick,

we saw a bunch of key Senate Democrats praise it, including several who vehemently opposed Hector LaSalle's nomination. That includes Brad Hoyleman Siegel. He's a Manhattan Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee and he'll oversee Judge Wilson's confirmation process. It is obviously a decision, my colleagues and I are going to have to review closely, but out of the gate, I'm impressed by the selection. The Senate now has 30 days to hold a hearing on the nomination and put it to a vote.

Ron Wilson, as you said, is already on the Court of Appeals as an associate judge, right? So if he gets bumped up to be chief judge, what happens to the seat that he now holds? Well, Hockel says she'll nominate Caitlin Halligan to take over Judge Wilson's associate judge role. She's a big-time appeals attorney in private practice right now. but before that she worked in the state attorney general's office. That includes a six-year stint as solicitor general. That's basically the state's top appellate attorney. But that nomination, it's actually a little controversial.

Governor Hockel, she got a law passed recently that allowed her to nominate two judges at the same time from the same list of seven finalists, and that's exactly what she did here. Senate Republicans, they say that violates the state constitution, though, and they've been warning that they might sue, so stay tuned. I hesitate to say assuming, just given recent history, but if these judges are confirmed, what kinds of cases might they face? There's some significant ones on the horizon here. For one, look no further than the case against President Donald Trump.

I mean, that is a state-level case. It's in the trial courts right now, but it's very, very easy to see how that could work its way up all the way to the Court of Appeals. Donald Trump is widely expected to try to dismiss the case, and depending on how all of that goes, it could be appealed and find its way in the top court. We mentioned the redistricting case before. That's actually been resurrected this year. Democrats, they're fighting in the courts to try to get these congressional lines redrawn again. And if that's the case, that could easily find itself in front of the Court of Appeals as well. Democrats, they're hoping that they might fare better in that court than they did last year. that's when Republicans successfully convinced the judges to let an independent special master draw the maps.

And Republicans were able to pick up a few seats in New York based on those maps. And it helped tip the House of Representatives to the GOP. So it's very important case. That's WNYC's Albany reporter John Campbell talking with my colleague, Sean Carlson. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headline, and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.