Luis Gonzalez (New York)
From Ballotpedia
Luis A. Gonzalez
Prior offices
New York Supreme Court Appellate Division 1st Department
Education
Luis A. Gonzalez was a justice of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. He joined the State Supreme Court, 12th Judicial District on January 1, 1993. He was appointed to the Appellate Division by Governor Pataki and took office on March 3, 2002.[1][2] He was retained in 2006[3] to a second 14-year term which was due to end on December 31, 2020. He retired in 2015.[1][4]
Education
Judge Gonzalez received a B.A. degree in history and Social Science from Eastern Mennonite University in 1968 and a J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1975.[1]
Career
Judge Gonzalez began his legal career in 1975 as an Investigator in the New York City Department of Investigation. He joined the law firm Zuflacht & Gonzalez one year later. From 1978 to 1980, he worked as General Counsel for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. He also worked as General Counsel to the South Bronx Community Housing Corporation (1980-1981) and the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (1981-1985). He became a Housing Court judge on the New York City Civil Court in January of 1985 and a New York City Civil Court Judge two years later. He held this position until his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993.[1][2]
Defense of trial judges
Michael Cardozo, the top legal adviser to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said in a speech in December 2009 that while the state's trial judges are overworked and underpaid, they are also responsible for delays in decisions. Cardozo said that the "entire culture must be changed" to "improve judicial accountability and, with it, judicial performance."
In response, 18 of 20 justices of the First Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, including Judge Gonzalez, published a letter in the New York Law Journal sharply dissenting from the tenor of Cardozo's remarks, saying that the remarks were “insulting,” “imperious” and “misguided”. Gonzalez told the New York Times, “We felt compelled to speak on behalf of the trial judges. Sometimes they may feel a lot more constrained, maybe even handcuffed, in response to criticism.[5]
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 New York State Unified Court System, "Justices of the Court (Historical): Luis A. Gonzalez," accessed February 28, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Judge Gonzalez biography from CourtAlert
- ↑ 2006 election results
- ↑ New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
- ↑ New York Times, "From State Judges, a Rebuke of a Top Bloomberg Adviser," December 17, 2009
