IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 6, 2025
The Fund for Modern Courts urges the three candidates for Mayor of New York City to commit to continuing the commission-based appointment process for judges, including participation of the highly respected New York City Bar Association. This process, developed by Mayor Koch and fully honored by Mayors Dinkins, Bloomberg, and De Blasio, has ensured that judicial appointments reflect integrity, fairness, and independence.
Since Mayor Koch, each mayor has pledged to appoint judges only from candidates approved by both the Mayor’s Committee on the Judiciary and the New York City Bar Association. The mayor appoints roughly half the members of the Mayor’s Committee but has no role in selecting the City Bar members, who conduct their own independent review. This dual system is critical: it insulates judicial selection from pure politics and assures New Yorkers that their judges are chosen through rigorous, independent evaluation.
Mayor Giuliani breached the commitment in his second term with two appointments, and Mayor Adams, after initially honoring the practice, excluded the City Bar earlier this year. While the Mayor’s Committee continues to recommend candidates with some community representation, exclusion of the City Bar undermines the integrity of the process. The City Bar’s participation adds an essential layer of objectivity because it is wholly independent of the mayor and has long served as a respected evaluator of judicial qualifications.
New Yorkers deserve judges whose appointments are not solely political. The participation of the City Bar is indispensable to ensuring that judicial appointments maintain the highest standards of fairness and public trust.
About the Fund for Modern Courts
The Fund for Modern Courts is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving New York’s court system and strengthening judicial independence, integrity, and access to justice.
Contact
Denise Kronstadt, Executive Director
Fund for Modern Courts
kronstadt@moderncourts.org | (845) 664-0200