Court hears arguments on Senate coup
-
- June
- 11
Democrats and Republicans were battling in state Supreme Court this morning over whether a new Senate majority could take control of the chamber.
Republicans claimed that Democrats are creating chaos by not allowing the new majority to hold a session.
Democrats were seeking a temporary injunction to prevent the new majority from taking over, saying Republicans and two dissident Democrats illegally voted for a new majority on Monday.
“The people of the state of New York deserve an organized, unchaotic Senate,” said state Supreme Court Judge George Ceresia, who is expected to rule from the bench this morning on the injunction request.
Austin Shafran, spokesman for ousted Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, said outside the courtroom that Republicans are trying to circumvent the will of the public, which voted for a Democratic majority last November.
“There are rules that govern the Senate and they are not playing by the rules,” Shafran said.
But Republican spokesman Scott Reif said it is the Democrats who are breaking the rules by trying to block the new majority from meeting.
“We intend to hold a session today,’’ he said.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 9:04 am by Jay Gallagher.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
