Relates to judicial districts

• Democratic2

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Michael Gianaris says this is needed

The State Constitution authorizes the Legislature, once every ten years, to "increase or decrease the number of judicial districts or alter the composition of judicial districts and thereupon reapportion the justices to be thereafter elected in the judicial districts so altered." The Legislature last exercised this authority in 2007, when it established the thirteenth judicial district in the county of Richmond. In the more than ten years since then, a longstanding lack of diversity on the West- ern New York bench has come into sharp focus. This bill aims to address that inequality by establishing two new judicial districts in the fourth judicial department. As currently constituted, the districts of the fourth judicial depart- ment combine urban centers with large rural communities. The demograph- ics of the department correlate to the urban-rural divide. While over- all the 4th Department contains a significant percent of people of color, it is not reflected in the demographics of the bench. The three most densely populated counties of the fourth department-Erie, Monroe, and Onondaga- each contain over 25% people of color and represent 57% of the department's total population. Despite representing the vast major- ity of Black, Latino and Asian residents in the department, the Western New York bench has suffered from a striking lack of justices represen- tative of those communities. According to a 2024 demographic survey reported by the Office of Court Administration-in which 42 of the 67 Supreme Court Justices in the Fourth Judicial Department responded-the results are sobering: only 1 justice identified themselves as Black, and zero identified as Asian or Hispanic in the entire department. This bill is designed to remedy that inequality. It establishes judicial districts for the three largest urban centers of Erie, Monroe, and Onon- daga counties, and it creates two judicial districts for the depart- ment's more rural counties. By doing so, the Legislature intends to empower all of the citizens of the fourth judicial department to elect Supreme Court justices that reflect and represent the region.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.