Francis A. Nicolai, Administrative Judge, 9th judicial District, N.Y. Supreme Court, at a private lunch at Water Club in New York on Oct. 18. Judge Nicolai is running for Westchester County Court Judge. (Photo: Veena Merchant)

Q : Can you talk about what comes under your purview?

Judge Nicolai : Well I explain briefly my responsibilities as the administrative judge of the united district where I work and I’m in charge of all the courts there. Comprises 5 counties; Westchester, Putnam, Duchess, Orange and Rockwell County, the population is approximately 2 million people, 100 full time judges, approximately 1,000 non judicial employees.

Q : What is the difference between a regular judge and an administrative judge?

Judge Nicolai : Okay, a regular judge primarily presides at trials. Almost everyday of their professional workday, they’re in trial. If they’re not presiding at a trial, they’re meeting with lawyers to discuss if disputes can be resolved without actually having to go to trial. The administrative judge is responsible for the operations of all the courts so my primary responsibility is to monitor, on an almost daily basis, what is happening with our cases.

Q : Coming to our constituency, our readers, they are from South Asia, all living here and since we are so close to Nov. 2, presidential elections and such a divided electorate... can you give our community some pointers in thinking about the Supreme Court appointment and what is involved in this particular race?

Judge Nicolai : Well we are constrained as judges from political comment or advising electorate... but it’s important that they try to inform themselves as best possible as to the philosophy of the particular lawmakers so that they can determine whether their philosophy with regards to the judiciary, is in keeping with their own philosophy. No there is no Democratic justice and there is no Republican justice but of course a Republican president will appoint judges who have a philosophy that’s in conformity with the Republican Party and vice versa.

Q : There has been a tremendous amount of backlash against the south Asian community after 9/11. As a judge, do you think judiciary can be in someway helpful in telling us what to do, what not to do?

Judge Nicolai : I think that the best way that the judiciary can be helpful is to send a stro-ng signal that these crimes are intolerable, that we can’t have them in our society and that when those individuals are found, they’ll receive appropriate punishment for committing these crimes and that sends a signal to the community at large that these crimes will not be tolerated. The important aspect of hate crime is legislation but more important is law enforcement. The district attorney has a very important role in setting up special units that deal with this crime.

Q : You made a very poignant remark when you said ‘send a signal.’ Can you expand on that?

Judge Nicolai : Well, when an individual is convicted of a particular crime, the judge has certain discretion, realizing how horrendous these crimes are to the fabric of our society and how we must root out this kind of crime in our society. If serious sentences are imposed, then the public will realize that the judiciary is not going to tolerate, not going to be lenient with these kinds of crimes.

Q : Common explanation for backlash on South Asians after 9/11 has been that it is all out of sheer fear but the fact is we’re all afraid, I’m afraid as much. So how do you deal with the double pressure put on the community?

Judge Nicolai : But hate crimes aren’t the result of fear, hate crimes are results of biases and prejudices and just the lack of understanding, a lack of tolerance for different people.

Q : Can you talk about your positions for the benefit of Indian American voters in Westchester County.

Judge Nicolai : I’ve been either a county court judge or a supreme court judge for 22 years, I’ve presided over many criminal cases, some of the high profile cases in our district and as a civil trials judge I’ve presided over some novel and interesting legal issues in civil trials and six years ago, the chief judge of the state together with the chief administrative judge selected me and appointed me as the administrative judge. The administrative judge is appointed every year, it’s a one-year term so obviously over these six years; they’ve been satisfied with not so much my performance but the performance of all of us (my team) together. I have to say I am very proud of the people in the 9th district –– the judges of the 9th district and the staff. The time from note of issue to trial (note of issue means the lawyers awaiting for trial day) the type of note of issue to trial in the civil side was approximately 14 months and now its 6 months and the only complaint we get on occasion is that we’re calling these cases in too quickly.

How did you do that?

Judge Nicolai : Well a variety of things, we reviewed all our older cases to determine which was of a lesser value, smaller cases and we farm those cases out to the city courts ...we called the old cases in to determine their status and whether a settlement conference would be of benefit. We reduced the number of cases waiting trial from approximately 1,100 to approximately 400 and the lawyers now think we’re calling the cases in too fast. I make an effort ever day to be the first car in the building and every evening to be the last car to leave. I do that to send a signal to everybody that we have a very significant amount of very important work and we have great responsibility and the only way we’re going to accomplish this work is if we dedicate ourselves, day in and day out. There are going to be days when you’re able to take some time off, absolutely, but you must be dedicated.

Q : You yourself suggested that voters should find out about the philosophy of the judges, can you talk about your philosophy?

Judge Nicolai : I think I developed a reputation of a fair-minded judge who calls it the way he sees it, not the lease bit concerned about whether there’s going to be criticism from different parties. I’m a member of a political party and in my earlier days I was active in the Democratic Party in a variety of positions. Recently I had a very novel case, probably one of three or four in the history of New York where I ordered that an elected democratic official be removed from office and be replaced by a Republican because of problems, not irregularities or fraud but because of mechanical problems on election day with the voting machine.