New York's judicial appointments process has attracted ridicule after Janet DiFiore's successor as chief judge (the article identifies the appointer as the chief judge of the state's highest court) named actress Cynthia Nixon, best known for playing Miranda Hobbes in "Sex and the City", to the Commission on Judicial Nomination. The body is responsible for screening and recommending candidates for the state's most senior judicial posts, and critics have questioned the suitability of appointing a television actress with no legal background to such an influential role.

Nixon will serve as one of the commission's 12 members, filling one of four seats that are required to be held by non-lawyers. The appointment has prompted mockery online and among commentators, who have framed it as symptomatic of wider criticism of Democratic governance in the state, though the commission's structure has long mandated that some members come from outside the legal profession.