{"id":308228,"date":"2026-07-29T00:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/308228\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:56:18","slug":"nys-ed-cox-says-chief-judge-rowan-wilson-is-packing-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/308228\/","title":{"rendered":"NY’s Ed Cox says chief judge Rowan Wilson is packing court"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox accused New York\u2019s chief judge<\/a> of stacking an important judicial screening panel with \u201cpartisan Democrats\u201d \u2014 violating the spirit of the law requiring political balance.<\/p>\n

The state constitution states that no more than two of the four members on the Commission on Judicial Nomination \u2014 appointed by either Chief Judge Rowan Wilson<\/a> or Gov. Kathy Hochul \u2014 can belong to the same political party.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York\u2019s court system was once the most respected in the nation. Thanks to Judge Wilson and one-party Democrat rule, our courts have been hopelessly corrupted,\u201d state GOP Chairman Ed Cox said.<\/p>\n

Ed Cox, chairman of the New York State Republican Party, attended the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The judicial screening panel recommends candidates to the governor for service on the Court of Appeals, the state\u2019s highest tribunal.<\/p>\n

Wilson recently appointed lefty activist actress Cynthia Nixon to the judicial screening panel, raising eyebrows, The Post previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two of Wilson\u2019s four new appointees, Nixon and former Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Fahey, are registered Democrats.<\/p>\n

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore swore in Rowan Wilson as a Court of Appeals judge during a ceremony on June 1, 2017. Albany Times Union via Getty Ima<\/p>\n

He also appointed Joshua Silber, the founding partner of a Manhattan law firm specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury cases, to serve on the judicial screening panel.<\/p>\n

But about a month before his May 1 appointment, Silber, a Democrat and donor to Democratic candidates, purged his entire voter registration record in New York, the Times Union reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Silber then re-registered to vote on July 14 as an independent, not enrolling in a political party.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Wilson already made a farce out of this important committee by appointing \u2018Sex in the City\u2019 actress Cynthia Nixon,\u201d Cox said. \u201cNow, he is giving New Yorkers a master class in Albany corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis latest pick is a lifelong Democrat who had his voter registration history \u2018purged\u2019 to appear ostensibly as an independent, circumventing the State Constitution\u2019s requirement for political balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with Silber, another appointee, nonprofit executive Ann-Marie Foster, also was not enrolled in a political party when she was picked.<\/p>\n

Wilson, via a spokesman, defended his appointment as proper and lawful.<\/p>\n

Wilson then was sworn in as the Chief Judge by Governor Kathy Hochul on Sept. 12, 2023. Albany Times Union via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time the Chief Judge sent his appointment letter to the Governor\u2019s Office on May 1, Mr. Silber was not enrolled as a Democrat,\u201d said Al Baker, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt no time prior thereto did either the Chief Judge or his staff suggest to, or encourage, Mr. Silber to de-enroll from the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silber declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox accused New York\u2019s chief judge of stacking an important judicial screening panel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[109825,651,12883,57,9,11112,11,10,49,51,50,5285,58],"class_list":["post-308228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cynthia-nixon","tag-democratic-party","tag-ed-cox","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-court-of-appeals","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-republican-party","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}