Court Rules Against Andrew Cuomo’s Attempt to Dismantle Ethics Panel

New York’s highest court on Tuesday rejected efforts by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to dismantle a state ethics commission that had been investigating a $5.1 million book deal he had received, ruling that the body’s creation was constitutional.

The 4-3 decision was a blow to Mr. Cuomo, who had sued the commission, known as the State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, and who appears to be gearing up for a run for New York City mayor. Mr. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid scandals related to his oversight of the state during the coronavirus pandemic and accusations of sexual misconduct, charges he denies.

Mr. Cuomo had argued that the 11-member commission removed enforcement powers from the governor, making its creation unconstitutional. Lawyers for the state defended the commission, saying that the notion of separation of powers was flexible enough to permit overlap between the branches of government.

Writing for the majority, Jenny Rivera, an associate judge with the State Court of Appeals, concluded that the creation of the body had come “very close to the boundary of permissible legislation” but that Mr. Cuomo’s “contention that the commission is controlled by ‘legislative agents’ is without merit.”

“The state has a paramount interest in promoting public trust in government by ensuring impartial enforcement of the ethics and lobbying laws and the act furthers that goal,” Judge Rivera wrote, referring to the 2022 law that created the commission.

In 2020, Mr. Cuomo sought and received approval from a precursor to the commission, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, to write a memoir titled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Amid the scandals that led to Mr. Cuomo’s resignation, the commission reversed its approval in 2021 and ordered him to turn over the $5.1 million advance he had received for the book. It had determined that Mr. Cuomo had broken his promise not to use state resources to finish the memoir.

At the time, the state attorney general’s office balked at enforcing the directive, saying that the joint commission needed to conduct an investigation before seeking to recoup the money. Mr. Cuomo then sued the commission.

After that body was replaced by the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, it decided to continue investigating the book deal. Mr. Cuomo sued again, arguing that the new panel had been created illegally.

In 2023, a State Supreme Court justice ruled that the ethics commission had indeed been created unconstitutionally, agreeing with Mr. Cuomo’s team that the body had reassigned powers that properly belonged to the governor.

Rich Azzopardi, Mr. Cuomo’s longtime spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday that the former governor would find another avenue for appeal.

“This split ruling is a complete reversal from the unanimous opinion of six judges sitting on two levels of our court system,” Mr. Azzopardi wrote in the statement, adding: “It is disturbing that any judge of New York’s highest court would countenance flagrant violations of the Constitution when it conflicts with what is most convenient to the political class.”

In his dissent, Michael J. Garcia, an associate judge with the Court of Appeals, said that the structure of the commission had come at “the expense of constitutional guardrails on inter-branch encroachment” and that it was not supported by court precedent.

Of the ethics commission’s 11 members, six are appointed by legislative leaders, three by the governor, and one each by the attorney general and comptroller.

Good-government groups and some politicians championed Tuesday’s ruling, saying that it empowered the ethics body to continue muscular oversight of the state.

“New Yorkers should be deeply concerned about the former governor’s repeated efforts to challenge any independent oversight of executive authority,” said State Senator Zellnor Myrie, who is running for mayor.

“Just as Trump has argued independent watchdogs cannot have enforcement power over him, Cuomo has echoed similar arguments” against the ethics commission, Mr. Myrie said.

The commission can return to investigating Mr. Cuomo’s book deal as it seeks to determine whether he used state resources to write it, said Blair Horner, a senior policy adviser for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

“The court wisely put the core principle of checks and balances between the branches above a rigid application of the separation of powers doctrine,” Mr. Horner said.

“While ethics oversight is always a work in progress,” he added, “the structure of the current law has been given a clean bill of health by the state’s highest court and can now go about its business without a cloud hanging over its work.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who created the commission in 2022, said in a statement that the ruling was a victory. She has billed the body’s creation as a way to turn the page from Mr. Cuomo’s scandals.

“I promised New Yorkers a new era of leadership in Albany, and this ruling from our state’s highest court reaffirms our approach,” Ms. Hochul said.