As impeachment looms as an increasingly likely prospect for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, some New York politicos are pointing to a pair of recent appointments as a possible effort by Cuomo to tilt the scales of an impeachment trial in his favor.
According to the New York State Constitution, the jury in a trial of impeachment consists of all of New York’s 63 state senators except the leader of the majority party (who would become lieutenant governor in the event of impeachment and therefore represents a conflict of interest), plus the seven judges of the Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State.
Some observers have raised the possibility that one factor in Cuomo’s most recent appointments to the Court of Appeals—he nominated two of its members in May, and they were confirmed by the state Senate in June—was to provide likely votes for acquittal, should a trial occur. While the appeals court judges couldn’t by themselves acquit Cuomo, they could provide up to 7 of the 24 votes he would need to escape impeachment.
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