THE BEAT GOES ON
In the wake of yesterday’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding New York’s party-driven method of electing its trial court judges, The New York Times weighs in with a sobering analysis of the case. Perhaps the most noteworthy quote comes from Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the 12-page decision. The fact that the party leadership “effectively determines the nominees” at the nominating conventions, Justice Scalia wrote, “says nothing more than that the party leadership has more widespread support than a candidate not supported by the leadership.” Moreover, he added, “Party conventions, with their attendant ‘smoke-filled rooms’ and domination by party leaders, have long been an accepted manner of selecting party candidates.” Meanwhile, a Times opinion piece discusses “another setback to voters,"  while the paper’s metro blog, City Room, discusses the local impact, including Brooklyn Democratic Party strongman, er chairman, Vito Lopez’s assertion that “I’m extremely pleased and many, many people throughout the city are, too.” Finally, the legal blog Ballot Access has a slightly more wonky analysis of the decision itself, including this juicy bit: “The bottom of page 7, and page 8, misrepresents the position of Lopez Torres. It says she complains that ‘the party leadership inevitably garners more votes for its slate of delegates than the unsupported (by party leaders) candidate can amass for himself.’ This is a large flaw in Scalia’s opinion. Lopez Torres did not make this argument. She complained about the fact that her candidates for Delegate can’t get on the ballot, not that her candidates for Delegate can’t win.”

TOTE BAGS AND VOUCHERS
In other local news, The New York Law Journal discusses a reconstituted Second Circuit panel’s decision not to rehear arguments in an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the eminent domain claims at the heart of the Atlantic Yards project that was dismissed after a judge on the panel recused himself. Eastern District Judge Edward Korman, who was sitting by designation at the Second Circuit in October, had told lawyers before oral argument that he had received an Atlantic Yards promotional flyer and had checked the box on that flyer that indicated he supported the project. After Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs replaced Korman, the panel rejected plaintiff attorney Matthew Brinckerhoff’s request for a second round of oral arguments. “The mailer is striking for a number of reasons, most notably because it solicited supporters to return a postage-prepaid card pledging that 'YES! I SUPPORT THE ATLANTIC YARDS and the jobs, housing and open space it will create,' ” Mr. Brinckerhoff wrote. “According to published reports, approximately three percent of the cards were returned, and every person who returned the card was sent both an Atlantic Yards tote bag and a voucher redeemable for two free tickets to a New Jersey Nets game.”

PUSH AND PULL 
Newsday weighs in with a report on Northern District Judge Gary Sharpe’s decision yesterday approving New York’s plan for bringing the state into compliance with federal voting laws. The state’s delinquency in complying with the Help America Vote Act includes its “paralysis” in not replacing push-lever voting machines. Under the plan, voting machines for the disabled with be available by next fall’s federal election, and the push-lever problem will be fixed by the following year’s round of elections. “It means we have a lot of work to do in a relatively short period of time,” Board of Elections spokesman Lee Daghlian said. “But we have agreed to this plan with Justice. As a matter of fact, we've already started some of these things in the timeline.” Said Judge Sharpe, “This court retains jurisdiction to take any and all other actions, including specifically the appointment of a special master or other entity as necessary to ensure that the obligations imposed upon the defendants by HAVA and by this court's orders are carried out.”

I'M GOING TO THE FBI 
Finally, The Elmira Star Gazette discusses Chemung County Court Judge Peter Buckley’s dismissal of criminal and contempt charges against former Elmira Police Chief James Waters. The charges stemmed from allegations by a currently suspended police Sergeant, Joseph Miller, Jr,. that Waters illegally released court-sealed records to the FBI. The records stemmed from an investigation into Miller’s alleged theft of $13,000 being held as evidence by the police department. After Buckley had dismissed those charges, Waters approached the FBI about pursuing a federal case against Miller, and somehow the FBI obtained state police records about even though Buckley had ordered the case sealed. “The evidence showed that Chief Waters took no direct action to turn the records over to federal authorities until he was presented with a grand jury subpoena of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York,” Buckley wrote in his decision. “Based upon that evidence, we cannot find him to have been in contempt of the court order.”