ALBANY – The state Senate confirmed liberal judge Rowan Wilson to lead New York’s top court Tuesday, despite concerns about past rulings indicating he would push the judiciary far to the left.

“Judge Rowan Wilson is a highly qualified jurist with a keen sense of fairness and a deep commitment to justice,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement following the 40-19 vote. “Throughout his tenure on the bench, he has proven himself to be a thoughtful leader who recognizes the power of the judiciary to impact the lives of all New Yorkers.”

Wilson’s confirmation comes just over two months after Hochul’s first pick for the Court of Appeals, centrist appellate judge Hector LaSalle, was voted down by fellow Democrats.

The ascension of Wilson, the first black chief judge in state history, marks the end of an era for a court recently dominated by a relatively conservative bloc that angered progressives — most notably when it invalidated the so-called “Hochulmander” of the state congressional map last year.

“The Senate Democrats made politicizing this court and changing the court and turning it into a progressive activist court their goal,” state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt (R-Lockport) told reporters ahead of the party-line vote.

Supporters say Wilson’s collegiality and intellect could bring the Court of Appeals together while boosting its national reputation, but his record has faced scrutiny in recent weeks.

Sexual assault survivors have been the most outspoken critics of Wilson – who has served as an associate judge on the court since 2017 – after he wrote the majority opinion in a March ruling that freed a convicted rapist on a technicality.

“The Chief Judge has a leadership role in communicating the values and priorities of the court system, and the decision Judge Wilson wrote in People v. Regan sends a message that the rights of rape survivors are not priorities for the Court,” read an April 17 letter to Hochul and legislative leaders signed by 21 sexual assault survivors.

“This is unacceptable.”

Wilson defended the ruling at his Monday confirmation hearing, where he said protecting the rights of the convicted rapist was necessary in order to defend the rights of all New Yorkers to a fair trial.

“It’s a horrible feeling to have to reverse a conviction in that circumstance,” he said. “It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s a function of how our judicial system works.”

Wilson was also one of just two dissenting voices in a 2022 ruling denying habeas corpus rights for a Bronx Zoo elephant named Happy, whose human supporters had sought to liberate it by establishing the beast’s rights as a “person.”

The confirmation of Wilson ends a months-long saga to find a new chief judge for the Court of Appeals following the resignation of ex-Chief Judge Janet DiFiore last summer under a cloud of scandal.

“The role the judiciary plays is crucial to securing our most basic freedoms,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said in a floor speech on Tuesday as Wilson watched from the balcony.

“Over the past year we have seen anti-democratic seeds planted at the state level go all the way up to the Supreme Court,” she added.

The glide path to Wilson’s confirmation was a notable contrast to the rejection Hochul experienced at the hands of progressives who blocked her first choice to lead the state judiciary.

“We clearly saw an interesting contrast between how Judge LaSalle was treated and what was viewed as qualifying [or] disqualifying,” Ortt said. “And then we have Judge Rowan Wilson, [with a] series of very questionable decisions, and yet none of those were disqualifying factors to be the chief judge.”

Progressives and powerful labor unions in February blocked LaSalle, who would have been the first Latino chief judge, from getting confirmed following criticism of past rulings that demonstrated his centrist approach to the law.

Hochul’s pick of Wilson, announced April 10, pleased progressive senators who had opposed LaSalle.

“Rowan Wilson is among the highest legal intellects I have ever encountered and has an approach to decision-making that reflects the best of what our society deserves,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said on the floor. 

“He will be a groundbreaking jurist who will elevate New York’s Court of Appeals to its rightful and historical place as a leader in American law,” he added.

The newly-installed chief judge could be a deciding vote in litigation challenging New York’s new congressional lines as part of Democratic efforts to retake control of the House of Representatives next year.

Wilson notably voted to uphold the so-called “Hochulmander” along with other liberals in the 4-3 decision.

Efforts to push the court leftwards gained steam following the midterm elections in which the GOP took control of the House after flipping several New York seats, with Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James among those backing the pending suit.

Wilson’s confirmation sets the stage for another court battle after Albany Democrats passed a new law allowing Hochul to select his replacement from a list of seven candidates previously screened by the state Commission on Judicial Nomination.

Hochul has picked liberal attorney Caitlin Halligan — whose nomination the Judiciary Committee discussed but did not vote on Tuesday — to replace Wilson upon his confirmation.

Republicans, however, have signaled that they might sue in order to block Halligan in hopes of getting the commission to compile a new list with more centrist names.

“We’re continuing to review those options,” Ortt said.