New York State Appellate Justices Who Will Hear Trump’s Appeal Have History of Donating to Democrats
The New York State Appellate Court justices who will decide former President Donald Trump’s appeal have a history of donating to Democratic campaigns and were elected to lower court judgeships as Democratic candidates before their appointments to the Appellate Court.
State campaign records show that some of the justices, when they served as judges in the lower courts, donated to Democratic candidates and campaign committees, an apparent violation of the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics rules that prohibit partisan political activities of sitting judges.
The list of candidates includes a wide variety of New York elected officials, from state legislature candidates to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A review of federal and state election contribution records reveals that at least 14 of the 21 justices gave individual donations to Democratic campaigns and committees before their appointment to the Court.
All but one of the Court’s 21 justices were appointed by a New York State Democratic governor, either David Patterson, Andrew Cuomo or Kathy Hochul.
One justice who did not side with Trump is the newest member of the appellate panel, Associate Justice Marsha D. Michael. She was appointed by Hochul last October.
In 2014, Michael ran in the Democratic primary for the New York State Assembly in the 79th District in the Bronx. She was endorsed in that race by then-New York City Public Advocate Leticia James, who went on to be elected New York State Attorney General four years later.
Last year, James prosecuted Trump and won her successful $454 million real estate fraud case.
Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer was first elected as a judge in the New York State Civil Court in 2004. In 2011, she won a Supreme Court judgeship as both the Democratic and Republican candidate.
Federal Election Commission records show that Gesmer had contributed to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and various Democratic Party committees when she was a lawyer in private practice.
Appellate Justice Jeffrey K. Oing gave $900 to the New York State Democratic Committee in three payments in 2003, one year before he was elected to the New York City Civil Court.
The state’s judicial ethics rules state: “Neither a sitting judge nor a candidate for public election to judicial office shall directly or indirectly engage in any political activity” that does not directly involve their own candidacy.
The rules prohibit judges from “engaging in any partisan political activity” or “participating in any political campaign.”
Trump has accused Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over his recent criminal trial, of being “conflicted” because he donated $15 to President Joe Biden’s 2016 election campaign – and $10 to a group called “Stop Republicans.”
However, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct found that Merchan had no conflict of interest.
In the murky political landscape that can be New York politics, several of the appellate judges were even endorsed by competing political parties in their contests for a seat on the lower courts.
Despite some of the justices’ past Democratic support, Trump has scored some wins before the Appellate Court in his recent appeals.
Last year, a panel of five of the justices reduced the amount of the bond that was imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron in Trump’s real estate civil fraud trial, from $454 million to $175 million.
Court observers note that there is no evidence that the personal political views of the jurists have influenced their rulings, but critics contend that the appearance of a possible conflict of interest is troubling.
