Joseph Forstadt

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it's going to review the New York case about the constitutionality of the judicial selection process.

(Judicial candidates currently get the endorsement of a major party not by running in primaries, but in judicial conventions. More on the initial case here.)

In addition to making it a big day for the Brennan Center, this should be good news for Eliot Spitzer, who has been pushing for judicial primaries as part of a broader reform agenda that includes non-partisan redistricting and new rules on campaign finance and governmental ethics. A victory on this issue in the Supreme Court would hand Spitzer a crushing victory over the party chairs, whose ability to create judges gives them much of their remaining political leverage and influence.

But an attorney working for one of the defendants, the State Supreme Court Justices Association, said Spitzer's calls change are essentially meaningless.  read more »

From Joseph Forstadt's window, 32 floors above the East River, the Fulton Fish Market is humble to t  read more »