A state court of last resort / Established 1847

New York Court of Appeals

Albany · A court of last resort in New York.

The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in New York. Its judges are chosen by gubernatorial appointment. This page lists every judge to serve on the court, current and former, with when they joined the bench and whom they succeeded.

Judges in history

Currently serving

Appointment

Selection

14-yr

Term

Current judges

Judge	Since
Susan Phillips Read	2003
Eugene F. Pigott Jr.	2006
John M. Leventhal	2008
Jenny Rivera	2013
Leslie E. Stein	2015

Former judges

Judge	Years
Sheila Abdus-Salaam	2013–2017
A. Gail Prudenti	2011–2015
Jonathan Lippman	2009–2015
Theodore Theopolis Jones	2007–2012
Bernard J. Malone Jr.	2005–2012
Robert Sherlock Smith	2003–2014
Victoria A. Graffeo	2000–2014
Robert Hurlbutt	1999–2009
Alfred D. Lerner	1998–2004
Albert Martin Rosenblatt	1998–2006
Richard C. Wesley	1997–2003
Anthony J. Carpinello	1996–2008
Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick	1993–2012
Howard Arnold Levine	1993–2003
George Bundy Smith	1992–2006
D B. Crew	1991–1997
Milton Mollen	1989–1990
Elizabeth W. Pine	1989–2008
Joseph William Bellacosa	1987–2000
John W. Sweeny Jr.	1987–1999
Stewart Freeborn Hancock Jr.	1986–1993
Fritz Winfred Alexander II	1985–1992
Vito Joseph Titone	1985–1998
Judith Smith Kaye	1983–2008
Richard Duncan Simons	1983–1997
Vincent Pizzuto	1982–1998
John Carro	1979–1994
Bernard Stern Meyer	1979–1986
Roger Jeffrey Miner	1976–1981
Lawrence Henry Cooke	1975–1984
Jacob D. Fuchsberg	1974–1983
Samuel Rabin	1974–1974
Harold Arnoldus Stevens	1974–1975
William C. Thompson	1974–1980
Hugh Richard Jones	1973–1984
Solomon Wachtler	1973–1992
Domenick L. Gabrielli	1972–1982
Theodore R. Kupferman	1971–1996
Jack Rosenberg	1971–1982
James Gibson	1969–1972
Matthew Joseph Jasen	1968–1985
Charles David Breitel	1967–1978
M H. Martuscello	1967–1978
Kenneth B. Keating	1966–1969
Francis Bergan	1963–1972
John F. Scileppi	1963–1972
Sydney Francis Foster	1960–1963
Adrian P. Burke	1954–1973
John Van Voorhis	1953–1967
Charles W. Froessel	1950–1962
Bruce Ditmas Bromley	1949–1949
Stanley H. Fuld	1946–1973
Marvin Rood Dye	1945–1965
Thomas Day Thacher	1943–1948
Charles S. Desmond	1941–1966
Albert Conway	1940–1959
Irving Lehman	1940–1945
Edmund H. Lewis	1940–1954
John Ridley Finch	1935–1943
Edward T. Loughran	1934–1953
Leonard C. Crouch	1932–1936
Cuthbert W. Pound	1932–1934
Irving G. Hubbs	1928–1939
Abram Elkus	1919–1920
Frederick E. Crane	1917–1939
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo	1914–1932
William H. Cuddeback	1913–1919
John W. Hogan	1913–1923
Willard Bartlett	1906–1916
Emory A. Chase	1906–1921
George L. Ingraham	1896–1915
William C. Ruger	1883–1892
William F. Allen	1870–1878
Charles Andrews	1870–1897
Robert Earl	1870–1894
Charles James Folger	1870–1880
Lewis Bartholomew Woodruff	1868–1869
John Kilham Porter	1865–1867
Henry Rogers Selden	1862–1865
William B. Wright	1862–1868
Gilbert Dean	1855–1855
Addison Gardiner	1847–1855
Charles H. Ruggles	1847–1855

How a judge reaches this court. Judges of the New York Court of Appeals are appointed by the governor to 14-year terms. New York’s court of last resort is the Court of Appeals (not the trial-level Supreme Court): the governor appoints from a nominating commission list with Senate confirmation to 14-year terms. Selection methods vary by jurisdiction and have changed over time; this page reflects the court’s current method (source: National Center for State Courts). Open any judge to see their tenure and whom they succeeded.

Source: CourtListener / Free Law Project; selection method from the National Center for State Courts. Data last verified 2026-06-30. Verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).