Spring 2007

New Faces on the Court of Appeals

Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr. | Judge Theodore T. Jones Jr. | Chief Judge Kaye Confirmed for Second Term

Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr.

Judge Eugene F. Pigott, Jr. was confirmed by the state Senate Sept. 18, the sixth and final Court of Appeals nomination by Gov. George E. Pataki.

In addition to serving as Erie County Attorney, Judge Pigott was in private practice before being appointed and then elected to the state Supreme Court in 1997. He was elevated to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in 1998 and became presiding justice in 2000.

Judge Pigott, 60, replaces Judge George Bundy Smith on the Court of Appeals and is the first jurist from the Buffalo area to be nominated to the state’s highest court since the mid-1980s.

Judge Theodore T. Jones Jr.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer nominated Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones to the Court of Appeals on Jan. 14. Judge Jones, who most recently served as Brooklyn civil term administrative judge, was confirmed by the state Senate on Feb. 12.

Judge Jones, 62, handled the case involving the December 2005 New York City transit strike, in which he held union leader Roger Toussaint in contempt of court under a strict application of the Taylor Law.

Judge Jones, who succeeds Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt, spent several years as a defense attorney with the Legal Aid Society and was in private practice before being elected to the state Supreme Court in 1989.

Chief Judge Kaye Confirmed for Second Term

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, the first woman to sit on New York’s Court of Appeals and the longest-serving chief judge in state history, has been reappointed to a second term. Nominated for reappointment by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in February, Judge Kaye, 68, was confirmed by the Legislature on March 6. Judge Kaye cannot serve past Dec. 31, 2008, the year in which she reaches the court’s mandatory retirement age of 70.

Spring 2007 (PDF)

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Contents Judicial Compensation Plan Compensation Fact Sheet New DWI Statute Center for Court Innovation New Faces on Court of Appeals Commission on Probation Children’s Summit Black History Month Court Officers’ Academy Family Court Statute Historic Courthouse Did You Know? Judicial Institute Calendar