13 June 2021: New Cuomo-Appointed Judges May Sit on Impeachment Jury

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Scores Victory With Judicial Confirmations

Jury packing is "the practice or an instance of illegally or corruptly influencing a jury by making available for jury service persons known to be biased or partial in a particular case to be tried".

With that definition in mind, questions are being raised about Governor Cuomo's newest appointees to New York's Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in the state.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been weighed down for months by investigations into his alleged misconduct, leaving him largely removed from the fast-paced deal-making that typically marks the end of the state Legislature’s annual session.

But he notched a key win in the session’s final days last week when the state Senate confirmed his picks to fill two vacancies on the state’s highest court—both of whom would sit as jurors in a possible impeachment trial.

Mr. Cuomo is the subject of New York’s first impeachment investigation in more than a century. Democrats who dominate the state Assembly began an inquiry three months ago to look at accusations that the governor sexually harassed current and former aides and to examine his administration’s Covid-19 policies in nursing homes, the production of his memoir and how he granted priority access to coronavirus testing to close associates, including his brother.

It's almost as if the members of the majority party in New York's state senate aren't all that serious about Governor Cuomo's potential impeachment.

Related stories from the timeline:

• 22 April 2021: NY Senate Majority Leader Under Fire for "Normalizing" Cuomo