When Mayor Zohran Mamdani last week unveiled the 18-person committee that will advise him on his judicial nominations, he said the committee reflected the city it served.<\/p>\n
But to some observers, something seemed off.<\/p>\n
Though Jews make up an estimated 10 percent of the New York City population and represent such a significant share of New York City lawyers that the Jewish lawyer has become a cultural stereotype, the mayor\u2019s 18-person committee seemed to have no Jews on it.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Elizabeth Forspan, the president of the Brandeis Association of Queens, a group of Jewish legal professionals, sent a letter to Mr. Mamdani protesting the apparent absence of Jewish representation. The letter was co-signed by leaders of the Jewish Lawyers Guild of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Brandeis Society and the Bronx County Jewish Bar Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot a single Jewish attorney, former judge, or legal professional was appointed to a committee your administration described as one that would be \u2018truly reflective of New York City,\u2019\u201d they wrote, citing the news release the mayor sent out announcing the appointments.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the mayor, Joe Calvello, did not contest the letter\u2019s determination. \u201cTo date, Mayor Mamdani has had the privilege of appointing a dozen qualified judges from a range of backgrounds, including Jewish judges,\u201d he said. He added that any suggestion that decision making about the committee \u201cwas motivated by religion is false.\u201d<\/p>\n
The slate of members<\/a> who will advise Mr. Mamdani on judicial selections represents a broad cross-section of the city\u2019s legal professions, including former state judges, litigators, former prosecutors and law professors.<\/p>\n The apparent omission of Jews comes amid a particularly turbulent time in Mr. Mamdani\u2019s relationship with New York City\u2019s Jewish community. Last week, Mr. Mamdani posted<\/a> a two-minute video denouncing Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza and explaining why the law barred him from following through on a campaign vow to honor the International Criminal Court\u2019s arrest warrant for Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu is planning to attend the United Nations General Assembly in September in New York City.<\/p>\n Two days later, on Thursday, a man stabbed<\/a> an Asian man and then a Jewish man who was wearing a yarmulke on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side, while yelling \u201cAllahu akbar,\u201d the police said. Prosecutors have charged Raul Morales with two counts of attempted murder as a hate crime.<\/p>\n The next day, Jewish leaders gathered in front of an Upper West Side synagogue to denounce rising antisemitism and to beseech the mayor to tone down his anti-Israel rhetoric, which they believed was feeding antisemitic sentiment in New York City.<\/p>\n Some progressive rabbis rejected that notion<\/a>, arguing that Jewish safety did not require silence on Israel\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n Mr. Mamdani agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are critiques of a political leader, not of people of a specific faith or a religion or a background,\u201d he said to NY1 on Friday. \u201cMy responsibility as the mayor of this city is to keep every New Yorker safe, no matter where they come from, what they believe in or, frankly, even if they agree with my politics.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mayor\u2019s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary consists of nine members selected by the mayor, including the chair, and nine others recommended by judges and deans of the city\u2019s law schools, subject to appointment by the mayor.<\/p>\n The letter from Ms. Forspan said that one representative who had been recommended, John Leventhal, a retired justice of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, had been rejected by the mayor\u2019s office. \u201cWe find your unprecedented rejection of the highly respected retired Appellate Division Justice John Leventhal particularly disconcerting given the lack of any Jewish representation on the committee,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Mr. Calvello said Justice Leventhal was rejected because he had represented Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate of Jeffrey Epstein. \u201cWhen informed that Mr. Leventhal served on Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s legal team, the Mamdani administration chose not to move forward with his appointment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Reached by phone on Monday evening, Justice Leventhal, who served for three years on the committee under Mayor Eric Adams as one of Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson\u2019s nominees, said he had not been given any reason for the rejection of his reappointment.<\/p>\n Justice Leventhal said his career had been marked by numerous accomplishments, including presiding over the nation\u2019s first felony domestic violence court<\/a> and serving as an appellate judge for 13 years.<\/p>\n He said his firm had represented Ms. Maxwell on appeal, \u201cand it was a pure legal question.\u201d<\/p>\n If his rejection had to do with whom he had represented as a defense lawyer, he said, \u201cThat\u2019s what we do as defense attorneys \u2014 we represent people who are accused of crimes.\u201d He pointed out that all defendants are entitled to representation.<\/p>\n Beyond his own reappointment, Justice Leventhal said, \u201cthere should be a Jew on the mayor\u2019s committee, and I hope that wasn\u2019t intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Steven Banks, who is Jewish and the mayor\u2019s corporation counsel, is not on the committee, he is part of the core group that will advise the mayor on his final judicial selections. Others in the core group include Ali Najmi, the committee\u2019s chair, and Ramzi Kassem, the mayor\u2019s chief counsel.<\/p>\n