Family, friends gather to celebrate Rowan Wilson’s ascension to chief judge of New York

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Family, friends and state lawmakers gathered Tuesday for a ceremony celebrating the ascent of Judge Rowan Wilson, who was sworn in last spring as the first Black chief judge of the state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.

Wilson, 62, recited a celebratory oath administered by Gov. Kathy Hochul during the event inside a courtroom at the New York Court of Appeals in Albany. Wilson was officially sworn in immediately after his confirmation by the Legislature last April had and has been exercising the full powers of the post, but Tuesday’s ceremony was intended to bring more pomp to a landmark moment.

“My new role has brought some new challenges, challenges of a very different nature than studying the law, the facts and the arguments,” Wilson told attendees. He said he intended to be independent, but not an adversary. “My team and I look forward to working collaboratively to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.”

Hochul, a Democrat, nominated Wilson for the position overseeing the seven-member high court and the state’s judicial system after her first nominee, Justice Hector LaSalle, was rejected by the Senate. LaSalle would have been the state’s first Hispanic chief judge.

Wilson had been an associate judge of the Court of Appeals since 2017. He succeeded Judge Janet DiFiore, who resigned in August of last year.

“I feel confident you’ll be able to restore peoples’ faith in the government, restore faith in this bench and restore confidence that this court will do the right thing,” Hochul said.

Wilson had been favored by some Democrats and liberals who saw him as more friendly on civil rights, labor, and environmental issues. As an associate judge, Wilson had also dissented in an important decision last year in which the court majority found that the state’s Democratic leadership had followed an unconstitutional process in drawing up new congressional maps.

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Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.