January 17, 2007

The new governor has selected Brooklyn Civil Term Administrative Justice Theodore T. Jones Jr. for a vacant seat on New York's highest court. The pick is being hailed in some quarters as showing that Gov. Spitzer is not overly beholden to Democratic constituencies, because during the transit strike Judge Jones (at Spitzer's own urging) held union head Roger Toussaint in contempt of court; he also fined the TWU $2.5 million. Note, however, as well, this detail in the account by John Caher for the New York Law Journal: "Justice Jones is a favorite of lawyers, particularly those representing plaintiffs in civil cases."