NYS top court rules against Cuomo challenge to ethics panel’s constitutionality

ALBANY — The state’s highest court on Tuesday ruled against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who had challenged the constitutionality of the state ethics commission, which said he couldn’t keep $5 million he was contracted to receive for writing a book on his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision supports the authority of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying, which had ordered Cuomo to forfeit royalties to the book.

Cuomo had argued to the Court of Appeals that the ethics commission, partly led by legislative appointees, had no authority to take action against a governor because it would violate the state constitution’s separation of powers.

The 4-3 decision concluded that “the governor does not have unfettered powers.”

“Trust in government is essential to democracy because its erosion leads to apathy, disaffection, and the breakdown of civic institutions,” said the majority decision, written by Judge Jenny Rivera, who was appointed to the court by Cuomo. “Indeed, government cannot function if the public perceives that those entrusted with public power are unaccountable when they misuse their authority for private gain.”

A Cuomo spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The commission was created in 2022, after Cuomo had resigned from office over allegations of sexual harassment. The new commission, which was created by the State Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul, Cuomo’s former lieutenant governor, was formed after years of criticism that its predecessor wasn’t independent from Cuomo.

In September, a lower court judge ruled that enforcement of ethics law is a power of the executive branch, which set up the high court’s review.

Tuesday’s narrow decision noted that the issue was particularly difficult to decide and relied on laws and court precedents dating to the 1770s.

“We emphasize that the [ethics] Act goes very near the line of what is constitutionally permissible without crossing it,” the decision stated. “We therefore conclude that the Act is not unconstitutional in every conceivable application.”

The decision also stands as a guide for future ethics enforcement in Albany and its long history of ethics enforcers being created when new governors take office, only to be criticized as ineffective and then replaced.