Cuomo nominates two to Court of Appeals

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has announced nominations to fill two seats on the New York State Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

The nominations are pending confirmation by the New York State Senate.

“These individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and diverse backgrounds and experience to their positions, and I am confident their service will benefit New Yorkers for years to come,” Cuomo said in a news release.

The nominees were selected from a list provided to Cuomo by the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination.

Madeline Singas was nominated to fill the vacancy of Leslie Stein, who is retiring in June.

Singas was elected  Nassau County district attorney in November 2015. In that position, she has created an Immigrant Affairs Office to focus on crimes against immigrants and she has dedicated resources to restorative justice work through the creation of the Community Partnership Program for inmates being released from prison to match those in need of services with the tools they need to better integrate back to the community.

Singas was previously the chief assistant district attorney of Nassau County and head of its first Special Victims Bureau in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.

She also was an assistant district attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office from 1991 to 2006.

Singas received her law degree from Fordham Law School and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Barnard College at Columbia University.

Anthony Cannataro was nominated to the Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy of Paul Feinman, who died in March.

Cannataro is the administrative judge in the Civil Court of the City of New York, a position he was appointed to by Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks in 2018. Cannataro was elected to state Supreme Court in 2017 to serve in civil court in New York County.

From 2016 to 2018, Cannataro was appointed as supervising judge in the Civil Court of the City of New York. He also was designated as acting Supreme Court Justice in New York County from 2015 to 2016.

From 2014 to 2015, Cannataro served as a judge in the Civil Court in Bronx County.  He was also designated as a judge in the Family Court in Kings County for the city of New York from 2012 to 2014. From 2012 to 2017, he was elected to serve as a judge in the Civil Court in New York County.

Prior to becoming a judge, Cannataro was the principal law clerk to state Supreme Court Justice Lottie E. Wilkins from 2003 to 2011 and principal law clerk to Court of Appeals Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick from 2000 to 2003.

Cannataro was an assistant corporation counsel and senior counsel in the Manhattan Trial Unit of the Office of the Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department from 1996 to 2000.

Cannataro received his law degree from New York Law School and a bachelor’s degree in the classics from Columbia University.

[email protected] / (585) 232-2035