A judge tossed out Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn’s party rule changes on Monday, declaring that the August vote approving the changes was “improper.”
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Epstein said the rule changes — which would have added dozens of voting members to the party’s executive committee, likely preserving Bichotte Hermelyn’s position as chair — “must be declared a nullity.”
Bichotte Hermelyn, facing a near-certain ouster after party reformers won enough district leader seats to vote in a new chair, introduced the rule changes late last month. They were approved in a last-minute vote of the outgoing executive committee, which included several lame-duck members who had not won re-election.
Party reformers sued, arguing that the outgoing members were not authorized to vote on “substantial changes” to the party.
In her ruling, Epstein seemed to agree, citing state election law, party bylaws, and past case law. The outgoing members “who were not re-elected at the June 2026 primary had no authority to vote at the August 25, 2026 meeting with respect to the rule amendments,” she wrote.
Julio Peña III (front) and other District Leaders rallied against the rule changes earlier this month. File photo by Kirstyn Brendlen
She issued permanent injunctions blocking the party from implementing the rule changes and preventing the party from allowing the outgoing executive committee from “exercising functions on substantial matters.”
If the ruling stands, the party’s executive committee will not be expanded, and Bichotte Hermelyn is likely to be voted out at the upcoming organizational meeting. That meeting is currently scheduled for Sept. 23, and is required by law to be held between Sept. 17 and Oct. 6.
“Today is a victory for democracy, the will of the voters, and the rule of law,” said Julio Peña III, a longtime district leader and the reformers’ pick as next chair. “The party chair’s attempt to pack the Executive Committee with loyalists in order to keep her seat – instead of respecting the election results – is an affront to our party’s commitment to democracy.”
In court last week, Paul Newell, a lawyer for the reformers, said the case would have significant legal implications.
“If a chair can appoint more members of the governing body than are actually elected by the voters of Brooklyn, it is fundamentally impossible for Brooklyn Democrats to ever govern their party ever again,” Newell said at the time. “This will be the permanent end of small-D democratic governance of the Democratic Party.”
The Brooklyn Democratic Party said it will appeal the ruling. In a statement, the party’s executive committee said the court’s decision “is a disappointment and undermines the lawful work of the Kings County Democratic Executive Committee.”
At the center of the legal battle is the monthslong period between the June primary election and the party’s organizing meeting. New district leaders are elected to the county committee in June, but typically don’t formally take over their new positions until the fall organizing meeting.
In their lawsuit, reformers pointed to a section of state election law that says county and state committee members “shall hold office until the next election at which members of the committee are elected” and to a party bylaw that says “only persons elected as State Committee members … are authorized to vote”
District Leader Anthony Jones, who supports Bichotte Hermelyn, outside the Aug. 25 meeting. File photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Both rules, they argued, indicated that the outgoing executive committee members had effectively lost their positions and were no longer able to vote.
In court, the Brooklyn Democratic Party pointed to the section of election law that requires the county committee to have its organizing meeting between Sept. 17 and Oct. 7.
“Until such organization meeting, the existing county committee shall exercise all legal authority,” the law reads.
In her ruling, Epstein noted that primary elections used to be held in September, with the county organizing meetings held just a few weeks later. When the primaries were moved to June in 2019, the state legislature amended election law to say that “existing” committees would hold power until those meetings took place.
“…this amendment to Election Law was clearly intended to ensure that county and state committees could continue to function during the nearly three-month period between the primary and the date that an organizational meeting could be held,” Epstein wrote.
Since not every section of the law was amended, there is some “ambiguity” when the sections are read together, Epstein wrote, which should be addressed by the state legislature.
But, she said, that ambiguity does not impact voting membership of the party’s executive committee, as Brooklyn Democratic Party bylaws clearly state “only persons elected as State Committee members … are authorized to vote” on the executive committee.
If the ruling holds, Bichotte Hermelyn may lose her position as chair later this month. Photo courtesy of NYS Assembly
“The voting membership of the Executive Committee is thus in no way tied to any vote by the county committee or the County Committee’s organizational meeting,” Epstein wrote, adding that per state law, the newly-elected committee members become the “existing committee” when they win during the primary election.
In a statement, the party’s executive committee claimed Epstein’s decision “disregards the clear intent of Party Rules and decades of practice recognizing the Executive Committee’s authority to adopt rules and reforms necessary to prepare for an incoming County Committee.”
“It misinterprets those rules and disrupts the established practice that ensures stability during transitions,” they added.
Lawsuit highlights split in Brooklyn Democratic Party
The lawsuit underlined longstanding tensions among the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Bichotte Hermelyn abruptly pulled – then reinstated — the party’s endorsement of Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year and attempted to push several reform district leader candidates off the ballot through a series of lawsuits ahead of the June primary. Reformers have also slammed Bichotte Hermelyn for failing to defend Democratic incumbents in southern Brooklyn, where Republicans have successfully flipped three state Assembly seats and one state Senate seat since 2022.
“This ruling could not be clearer: the party chair must respect the election result,” said New Kings Democrats president Tony Melone, in a statement “The court has affirmed what nearly all our city, state, and federal representatives have said: it’s time for our party to hold a normal meeting under the rules that were in place at the time of the election, and let the elected District Leaders choose the next party chair. Then we can work together to win in November.”