There are few candid statements a judicial candidate or justice can make publicly. Criticizing an opponent is not one of them, according to the canons of judicial ethics. A judicial candidate or justice can speak glowingly about his or her own accomplishments but cannot denigrate an opponent’s accomplishments or alleged lack of same.
In a race for state Supreme Court in the Third Judicial District between Norman Massry, who is Jewish, and Christina Ryba, who is not, such a case occurred. In a letter sent by Ryba to her supporters, the Democratic hopeful stated: “Certainly, I believe the average voter or judicial delegate can tell the difference between traffic court litigation and Supreme and federal court litigation.”
This raised many eyebrows in the legal community and beyond because Massry has been a town justice for nearly six years in the Albany suburb of Colonie. He presides over traffic cases. Other types of cases in town court include felony arraignments and misdemeanor trials. While no ethics violations were filed against Ryba, it certainly skirted the line of inappropriate language.
Both candidates tell potential voters about how fair, compassionate, understanding, and impartial they will be if elected and pledge justice for all.
The Third Judicial District, a seven-county region, extends from the Pennsylvania border to the Massachusetts border. This includes Sullivan, Ulster, Schoharie, Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene, and Albany counties.
If elected, Massry, 50, would replace Leslie Stein, who was recently appointed to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. He would be the only Jewish jurist among seven in the Third Judicial District.
If elected, Ryba, 39, would be the first African-American jurist to sit in the Third Judicial District. Ryba is currently an attorney with the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division where she works in the Motions Department reviewing lower court decisions and making recommendations to the justices of the Appellate Division.
In New York State, judicial candidates for state Supreme Court do not have to circulate nominating petitions like all other candidates. Instead, petitions are circulated in June with the names of party loyalists who want to be a part of the system when the judicial nominating convention convenes in September to choose who will run for state Supreme Court.
This year, Democrats and Republicans met separately, an hour apart, at the Albany County Courthouse on Thursday, September 24, to choose their nominees. The Republicans lined up behind Massry while the Democratic delegates anointed Ryba as their choice. The Conservative and Reform parties backed Massry.
In a move viewed as an insult to Massry and the Jewish community, the Independence Party backed Ryba during a meeting on Yom Kippur. On Shabbos, September 26, Ryba accepted the nomination of the Working Families Party.
For the past month, Massry has been cultivating the Jewish vote in the Catskills enclaves of Hunter and Tannersville in Greene County; Kingston, Kerhonkson, Woodstock, New Paltz, and Ellenville in Ulster County; and Woodridge, Woodbourne, Fallsburg, South Fallsburg, Rock Hill, Monticello, Swan Lake, and Liberty in Sullivan County.
On the campaign trail Massry touts his military experience as a 1986 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly the Franklin Pierce Law Center). From 1986 through 1991 Massry served as an aviation officer in the army’s First and Second Infantry Divisions and was awarded the Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Kuwait Liberation Medal for meritorious service as an army helicopter pilot during the Gulf War. He is a member of the Jewish War Veterans.
The New York State Supreme Court is the trial level court of general jurisdiction. In this court, civil actions – personal injury lawsuits, medical malpractice cases, real property disputes, matrimonial actions (including divorces), and breach of contract actions (including mortgage foreclosures) – are heard.