Last summer when Governor Pataki refused to re-nominate Judge George Bundy Smith to the Court of Appeals, it was left without a Black jurist for the first time since 1985. If Governor Eliot Spitzer gets his way, that void will be filled. On Sunday he tapped Judge Theodore T. Jones, Jr. to fill a vacancy on the state’s highest court.
“I have always felt that the judiciary is our most important branch of government,” Spitzer announced at a press conference last week. Nominating someone for the highest court was a serious endeavor, he said. “It is a branch of government for which I have great reverence.”
In selecting Justice Jones, 62, Spitzer insisted that race and gender were not factors in the decision. He only wanted someone who “would be the best jurist.”
Jones told the New York Law Journal that he was humbled by the nomination and that he would do his best to live up to the great responsibility entrusted in him. “I know the strength of the competition presented by the (others) who were considered along with me. I am persuaded that my 34 years of legal experience up to this point put me before you today.”
The justice, who has served in the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn for 17 years, is perhaps best known for his handling of the transit strike in 2005 in which he fined the Transport Workers Union $2.5 million for violating the state’s Taylor Law that prohibits public employees from striking. He also sentenced Roger Toussaint, the union’s president, to 10 days in jail. Toussaint served three-and-a-half days before being released for good behavior.
“This is a very sad day in the history of the labor movement in New York City,” Justice Theodore T. Jones said upon issuing his contempt order against Toussaint. Toussaint felt the fine was excessive and believed he would be vindicated, which, to some extent he was when he was re-elected in the recent union elections.
Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) was livid when he heard the announcement. “As far as I’m concerned, Judge Jones is the Clarence Thomas of New York,” Barron told the Amsterdam News. “Just as Thomas busted affirmative action, Jones is a union buster. And to think that Spitzer made this announcement on Dr. King’s birthday is absolutely disgraceful.”
On the other hand, there are those such as Nadine C. Johnson, president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, who praised the judge and endorsed the nomination.
“Justice Jones will bring to (New York’s) high court a keen understanding and knowledge of the legal issues the court is likely to be faced with in the near future,” she said in a statement to the New York Law Journal. “He is known for excellent judicial temperament, a high sense of integrity, intellect and judicial independence, respect for the laws with fair and accurate application of the law.”
Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith, recently embroiled in seeking justice in the shooting of Sean Bell, stated, “While Governor Spitzer made it quite clear that race would not be a factor in his judicial appointments, he also made it clear that he values a diverse judiciary.”
Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, added that the governor “has done more to increase diversity on the state’s highest court than his predecessor did in 12 long years.”
“Nominating Jones is not about diversity,” Barron responded. “He’s against everything we stand for. His fine of the TWU was excessive, and he didn’t have to send Roger to jail. The Taylor Law is an unjust law, and Roger and the union were challenging it in the same way Dr. King defied injustice and unfair laws. We need judges who are authentically Black, not descriptively Black.”
Jones was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens. His mother was a teacher and his father worked on the Long Island Rail Road, becoming a stationmaster at Pennsylvania Station.
After graduating from Hampton University in Virginia, a historically Black college, Jones earned his jurist doctorate from St. John’s University School of Law. He was in the Army from 1967 to 1969 and served in Vietnam. He was admitted to the state bar in 1973 and was a criminal defense lawyer at the Legal Aid Society. Among his stints, he was a law secretary for Judge Howard A. Jones of the State Court of Claims. He also worked in private practice.
Jones lives in New City, Rockland County, with his wife, Joan, who joined him at the news conference, along with their two adult sons, Theodore III and Wesley, and other relatives, according to reports.
If confirmed by the State Senate to a 14-year term, Jones would replace Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt, who was appointed by Pataki in 1998. Judge Rosenblatt left the court on Dec. 31, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, which Jones will reach in eight years.
In 2002, Jones was involved in another case that stirred some rancor when he upheld a jury verdict that the Jewish Defense Organization, a militant group, was liable for defaming Steven Rombom, a private investigator, on several Internet sites.
It will be Jones’ duty on the Court of Appeals to interpret the State Constitution and rules on the limits of governmental power.
