A New Yorker’s guide to electing judges — and whether you actually have a say

While the mayoral candidates are duking it out in a fierce campaign fight this fall, a group of lower-profile candidates who are also running in the city's November general election could have an outsize effect on many New Yorkers’ lives.

The judges we elect next month will be responsible for overseeing criminal trials or civil disputes. But it can be hard to find information about the people seeking these powerful roles in New York’s court system.

Here are some things you should know before you head to the polls.

What judicial positions are on the ballot this fall?

It depends on where you live. To find who will appear on your ballot, go to findmypollsite.vote.nyc and then enter your address to see a sample ballot.

There are three types of judges that are elected by New York City voters, rather than appointed by the mayor or governor. Supreme Court justices oversee state trial courts for felony criminal cases and some types of civil cases, including ones that involve large amounts of money. Civil Court judges in the city preside over consumer debt, landlord-tenant disputes and several other kinds of civil cases. Surrogates’ Court judges handle cases related to deceased people’s wills and estates.

What are the qualifications required to be a judge?

To be a Supreme, Civil or Surrogates’ Court judge, you need to live in New York. You also must have been admitted to practice law in the state for at least a decade. Judges in these courts are required to retire at the end of the year they turn 70, but they can get special permission to keep serving on the bench for six more years.

How are judicial candidates chosen?

The process varies based on the type of judge and the borough. Local political parties typically play a central role, even though judges are supposed to keep “politics out of the courthouse,” according to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“Judges are supposed to be philosopher kings that are separated from politics,” said Paul Newell, an election lawyer and district leader for the Manhattan Democratic Party. “Realistically, there’s no way that can be done in a democracy.”

New Yorkers vote in primaries to select candidates for Civil Court and Surrogates’ Court. Those candidates often vie for endorsements from local political parties, which help with the logistics and expenses of campaigning.

“I always like to paraphrase Winston Churchill and say: The election of judges is the worst way of picking, except for every other way,” said Philip Straniere, a retired Civil Court judge on Staten Island.

The process is more complicated for Supreme Court judges. Elected members of county political parties known as judicial delegates select candidates to run in the general election. They pick as many candidates as there are open seats in their area. So, in heavily Democratic New York City, that often means the party is essentially picking the judges. While competitors do sometimes run on another party line, including the Republican or Working Families parties, they can face an uphill battle without the majority party's support.

Judicial delegates in each county make their nominations at a meeting called a judicial convention.

“To what extent that nominating convention is real, versus the decision’s really been made in a back room, varies dramatically across the state,” said David Siffert, a judicial delegate in Manhattan.

In Manhattan, he said, screening panels interview the contenders and recommend their favorites. Then, judicial delegates choose the candidates they want on the ballot from a list of people who were recommended that year or in the recent past.

Getting on the ballot to be a judge requires a lot of schmoozing with party members, Siffert added.

“They all have to throw these expensive cocktail parties and host all the judicial delegates and wine and dine them and take them out for coffee or dinner or whatever to try to get their support,” he said.

Mark Hanna, a judicial delegate in Brooklyn, said he and other party members in Brooklyn have been trying to use other tools to get to know the people seeking a spot on the bench. He said the party holds forums and reviews the records of judges already on the bench. He also observes the courtrooms of judges seeking re-election to assess their temperament.

Hanna said he’s reassured when judges oversee orderly courtrooms, where it’s clear the staff and attorneys respect them. But sometimes, he said, he witnesses yelling, confusion and “pure, unadulterated, abject chaos.”

“If all you do as a district leader is invite them to parties and fundraisers, you’re never going to get to know them that way. You’re not going to see what they’re like,” Hanna said. “It’s very different to interact with somebody on a personal level versus what they’re like professionally.”

But he said not all judicial delegates — a volunteer position — have the time to sit in courtrooms or the legal knowledge to know what to look for. Sometimes, he said, decisions come down to political “horse trading.”

How can I learn more about the judicial candidates on my ballot?

There’s usually less public information about judicial candidates than there is about other people running for office. Hanna said that’s largely because people who want to be judges aren’t supposed to broadcast their political opinions or make promises about the decisions they’ll make on the bench.

“You can’t run a campaign for judge going like, ‘I’m going to be a champion for bail reform,’” he said. “You’re never going to be a criminal court judge, because you can’t do that. You have to be fair and impartial and balanced and all the rest.”

But there are tools to find information about judicial candidates. The New York City Bar Association rated the candidates who ran in primaries this past June, deeming them either approved or not approved.

You can find information about current judges running for re-election in the judicial directory on the state court website. You can also research sitting judges’ records in a database created by the judicial transparency nonprofit Scrutinize.

The database assesses how often judges’ decisions have been reversed by higher courts, whether appellate judges found any prison sentences they handed down were excessively long and whether they’ve blocked access to affordable bail. It also includes links to the judges’ rulings and disciplinary records for those who have been admonished for wrongdoing. Scrutinize’s website highlights which judges’ terms end this year.

For new judicial candidates, finding information can be trickier. But you may be able to find a biography online, including on the website of a law firm or university where someone works.

Dana Rachlin, a former district leader in Brooklyn, recommended that voters get in touch with local party members involved in the judicial election process to learn more about the candidates.

“It’s up to us to get educated, because a judge is literally the dam holding back the water on everything right now,” she said. “Any issue that anybody cares about finds itself in front of a judge somewhere, I promise you.”