Law Journal Reviews the First 17 Months of the Lippman Court

Consistent with the mid-year analysis for the Court of Appeals we provided in July, the New York Law Journal reported earlier this week that when the Court is split "Judge Lippman is most apt to join Judges Ciparick and Jones."  The Law Journal then went on to explore whether this alignment reflects an ideological bent based on political philosophy, noting that Judges Lippman, Ciparick and Jones were each appointed by Democratic governors, while Justices Read, Graffeo, Smith and Pigott were appointed by Republican governors.  The Law Journal did not reach any conclusions, but did offer that Professor Stewart Sterk from Cordozo School of Law stated that "no Court of Appeals' judge has shown a slavish adherence to a political philosophy that can be counted on to produce predictable results."    

In January we will have our end of the year review and we'll see if the trend has held.  The Court of Appeals also provides their yearly report with all of their statistics sometime in March or April.  Here is their 2009 report.