DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The court case challenging Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn’s proposed bylaw changes is awaiting a ruling from Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Epstein as of Tuesday.

Bichotte Hermelyn’s proposed package of 10 bylaw changes was a response to the June Democratic Primary, where the Brooklyn Can’t Wait coalition won 22 of the 42 district-leader seats on the Kings County Democratic Party Executive Committee.

Under the existing rules, that number gave the reform movement a majority, allowing them to elect Julio Peña III as the next county party chair in September. Bichotte Hermelyn’s bylaw changes would substantially alter who gets to vote.

Bichotte Hermelyn said she “opened the process and the executive committee to include more people, including county committee members, bringing more diversity in thinking and ideology in different corners of Brooklyn.” 

Peña has called the move a power grab. Neither Bichotte Hermelyn nor Peña was present in court Sept. 8.

Amy Marion, a partner at Abrams Fensterman LLP, represented Bichotte Hermelyn. One of Marion’s arguments raised in court was that the lawsuit should have included anyone who could be affected by the proposed bylaw changes. Eleven people were cited as potentially affected, including seven district leaders who had lost their primary elections.

Mark Hanna, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, told the Brooklyn Eagle that he thought his team made their argument effectively.

“You simply should not be able to change the rules after you lose an election so that you can maintain power. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Hanna said. “The act of changing the rules to dilute voters’ intent should not be allowed.”

Hanna said that he believes a decision will be made very soon, ideally as early as tomorrow, adding that it was essentially in the judge’s hands at this point.

District Leader Anthony Beckford, male state committee member for the 43rd New York State Assembly District, represented himself in court.

“What we saw today was the opposition demonstrating just how unhappy they were,” Beckford said. “We can’t have tantrums when it comes to law.”

Beckford cited Election Law 2-114, which recognizes that political parties have the authority to adopt their own rules for governing the party. However, these rules cannot conflict with state election law. Whether the proposed Brooklyn Democratic Party bylaws violate that limitation is now for Epstein to determine and could ultimately be central to her ruling.