THE LAST WALTZ
The last Supreme Court nominating convention for Brooklyn and Staten Island was over in about a half hour flat Friday, The New York Law Journal reports. Brooklyn’s district leaders endorsed candidates for four open seats and one incumbent, Judge William Mastro. One of the open seats was vacated by Judge Michael Garson, who was suspended from the bench and decided not to seek reelection. Reporter Daniel Wise offers very helpful details on the successful candidates and their requisite political backers (and outlines nominating conventions in other boroughs as well.) Meanwhile, here’s a breakdown by the numbers: Minutes for a roster of five candidates to be nominated and elected unanimously by voice vote: three. Delegates participating in the voice vote: 95.  Minutes spent on formalities: 32. Supreme Court seats in New York state: 328.


BUT HOW MANY HAIL MARY’S?
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Bruce Allen sentenced the disgraced upper East Side priest John Woosley to one-to-four years at Rikers Island. The Daily News is touting its exclusive jailhouse interview with Woosley his first night in jail. The priest (as far as we can tell, he hasn’t been defrocked, and still has the ardent support of Cardinal Egan) arrived in Allen’s court room with a check for $100,000 of the money he’s been ordered to pay back after pilfering from church coffers to support the luxe life. Prosecutors say he stole more than $1 million from the parish, but he only pled guilty to a $50,000 theft.

SMOKING CLASS
The AP reports (via the Albany Times Union) this morning that tens of millions of “light” cigarette smokers won class action status today in a $200 billion lawsuit against tobacco companies alleging deceptive advertising practices. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn was reported a few weeks ago to have expressed skepticism about the feasibility of giving the group class status. But he’s also considered a friendly judge to plaintiffs in this case, given his ruling in a 2004 tobacco suit.

COWTOWN COURTROOMS
An expose of sorts appears in the The New York Times  this morning on small-town and rural justice in New York state. Courtrooms that are tiny offices or basements, hearings closed to the public, witnesses not sworn to tell the truth, and judges who aren’t lawyers. The result of a year-long investigation, the story is an in-depth look at a facet of the justice system in New York that’s frequently overlooked. Sometimes scary, mostly sad.

CLUBBED
Over at the roundtable blog Room Eight, an insider named Carroll rails against infighting in two Brooklyn Democratic political clubs, making an argument that grassroots candidates need such clubs to stand a chance against well-heeled opponents.

"For progressive grassroots candidates to stand a chance, against well financed candidates, local political clubs need to provide large amounts of street presence for the candidates they endors," they wrote.

 
MIND READER
And as blogger Maurice Gumbs predicted at Room Eight last week before the judicial convention, the Brooklyn and Richmond County Democratic picks for Supreme Court vacancies were Acting Supreme Court justice David Schmidt, and three Civil Court judges: Karen Rothenberg, Jack Battaglia, and Dolores Thomas.

 
Check out the Kings County election summary page for comprehensive coverage.

 
TURMOIL IN THE COURT 
Finally, over at the Daily News political blog The Daily Politics, Ben Smith dug up a blogged essay about how Civil Court judges are chosen, taking us back, once again, to Room Eight: "Oneshirt (an excellent, inside-joke of a pseudonym) makes the interesting, complicated case that Manhattan has illegally many civil court judgeships, something that could cast judicial politics into turmoil."

 
For more information about the judicial selection, check out "Crashing the Gates," an essay exploring the election scene in 2007 with New York consultants.