New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle ruled Monday in the case Cuomo v. New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (NYSCOELIG) that NYSCOELIG violates the New York State Constitution due to its statutorily prescribed independence. NYSCOELIG was created under New York Executive Law §94 as an independent ethics watchdog.
Marcelle stated in his opinion that the New York state constitution requires that all executive power lies with the governor; therefore, any commission with executive power must be under the control of the governor. Marcelle went on to write:
The commission violates this core constitutional tenant by operating beyond the Governor’s reach. The Governor has no capacity to control the commission by populating it with her appointees. She may not call commissioners to have them explain their actions, nor may she remove commissioners who misuse their office or fail in their duties. Indeed, the whole reason for the commission’s existence is to be independent from any government control — an objective which Executive Law § 94 surely accomplishes.
Marcelle concluded:
If the people should choose to be governed by those who are not politically accountable to them or their Governor, who swear no oath of allegiance to them, and who come as a class composed of urban academics and who are not reflective of the cross-section of the people whom they govern, the people may do so. But it is for the people to decide and only the people. Here, the Legislature has done by statute what was required to be done by constitutional amendment.
A spokesperson for plaintiff and former Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated the ruling, stating, “Truth and reason won, mob rule lost today.” NYSCOELIG Chair Frederick A. Davie and Executive Director Sandford N. Berland expressed disappointment in the ruling, saying, “We respectfully disagree with the court’s result and are reviewing all options, including, if appropriate, interim legislation.”
The case began in 2021 when former Governor Andrew Cuomo stepped down amid allegations of sexual harassment. After Cuomo left office, Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York legislature replaced the previous ethics oversight commission with NYSCOELIG, attempting to make it as independent as possible. NYSCOELIG then charged Cuomo with ethics violations relating to a memoir he wrote about the New York government response to COVID-19. Cuomo then filed a lawsuit in April alleging that NYSCOELIG has an unconstitutional purview. Cuomo also legally batted NYSCOELIG’s predecessor over similar allegations.
New York has had a long history of ethics scandals surrounding its state political leaders. Former Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin left office amid scandal in 2022, having been indicted on charges of involvement in a bribery scheme. Several former governors have also left office amid scandal including Cuomo, David Paterson and Eliot Spitzer. Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also both resigned in 2015 amid public corruption charges, for which they were eventually convicted.
