Eugene Fahey
Eugene Fahey was a judge of the New York Court of Appeals. He assumed office on February 9, 2015. He left office on December 31, 2021.
Fahey resigned after he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Fahey first became a member of the New York Court of Appeals through assisted appointment. He was first appointed to the court in 2015 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to the seat vacated by Robert S. Smith. To read more about judicial selection in New York, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Fahey received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Eugene Fahey was born in Buffalo, New York, in September 1951. He attended high school at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from State University of New York at Buffalo, cum laude, in 1974. He earned a J.D. in 1984 and a master's degree in European history in 1998.[3]
Fahey began his career in 1978 as a member of the Buffalo Common Council. He worked in this capacity until 1984, when he became a law clerk to Judge Edgar NeMoyer. In 1985, he entered the private practice of law and worked as legal counsel for the Kemper Insurance Company until 1993.
In 1994, Fahey was elected to the Buffalo City Court. He was elected to the State Supreme Court in 1996, where he also presided over cases in Erie County and the 8th Judicial District.
In January 2005, Fahey was assigned to the Criminal Division. He held this position until his appointment to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division on December 22, 2006. He served on the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division until his confirmation to the New York Court of Appeals in February 2015.[3][4]
Elections
2015
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) appointed Fahey to the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, on January 15, 2015.[5] Fahey's nomination followed Justice Robert S. Smith's retirement on December 31, 2014, after having reached the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70. The state Senate confirmed Fahey to a 14-year term on the court on February 9, 2015.[6] Fahey's term lasted seven years in practice owing to his reaching the mandatory retirement age in 2021.[7]
2010
Fahey successfully ran for re-election to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division in 2010.[8]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Eugene
Fahey
New York
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through hybrid judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Democrat before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Fahey was a registered Democrat prior to 2020. He donated $50 to Democratic candidates. He was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).
State supreme court judicial selection in New York
- See also: Judicial selection in New York
The seven judges of the New York Court of Appeals are selected through the assisted appointment method. The governor appoints each new judge from a list of qualified nominees submitted by a judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by the New York State Senate.[11][12]
Judges serve 14-year terms. To remain on the court, a judge must be renominated by the governor and reconfirmed by the Senate. Judges must retire at the end of the year in which they turn 70 years old; however, retired judges may serve until the end of the year in which they turn 76 years old if they are certified as competent every two years.[11][12]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a person must be a resident of New York and must have been admitted to practice law in New York for at least 10 years.[11][12]
Chief judge
The chief judge of the court of appeals is selected through the same assisted appointment method as other judges on the court and serves in that role for a full term. The position of chief judge is a specific seat on the court rather than a temporary leadership position.[11][12]
Vacancies
Midterm vacancies are filled by assisted appointment. The governor appoints a new judge from a list of qualified nominees submitted by a judicial nominating commission. The nominee must be confirmed by the New York State Senate. The newly appointed judge serves a full 14-year term.[11][12]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Court of Appeals, State of New York, "Honorable Eugene M. Fahey," accessed November 12, 2020
- ↑ Re-Elect Judge Fahey, "Experience," accessed February 11, 2015
- ↑ Governor of New York, "Governor Cuomo to Nominate Justice Eugene M. Fahey to Serve on the New York State Court of Appeals," January 15, 2015
- ↑ NBC New York, "Two New Judges Confirmed to NY's Highest Court," February 9, 2015
- ↑ Patterson Belknap, "Two Court of Appeals Judges to Retire in 2021," November 10, 2020
- ↑ New York Secretary of State Board of Elections, "NYS Board of Elections State Supreme Court Election Returns November 2, 2010," accessed November 12, 2020
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New York," accessed September 12, 2021
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 New York State, "The Constitution of the State of New York," accessed September 12, 2021 (Article VI)
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State resources:
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