A Manhattan housing court judge dramatically submitted his resignation in court last week, just days after he got into a "spat" with an attorney he ruled against—who happened to be Bronx State Senator Luis Sepúlveda, the chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.
The dispute between Judge Jason Vendzules and Senator Sepúlveda, and Vendzules's subsequent resignation, sent shockwaves through the Manhattan bar, and has drawn attention to the fact that no ethics rules prevent the state senator in charge of judicial appointments to practice law in front of the very same judges he helps to put on the bench.