Mayor Mamdani appoints court watchdog as executive director of city’s judicial panel

A good government advocate has been tapped by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to take on the duties of managing the committee charged with vetting judicial nominees, City Hall announced Tuesday. Douglas Keith, a deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Judiciary Program, will take the role of executive director and senior legal office of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary (MACJ), the 19-member panel of attorneys and former judges responsible for evaluating and appointing judges to the city’s family and criminal courts, as well as interim judges to its civil courts. The appointment comes after the judicial committee posted a public code of conduct on its website that details a recusal process for its members — a measure that good government groups have long been pushing for increased transparency. “With Douglas Keith’s leadership, our first-ever Code of Conduct, and a restored partnership with the City Bar, we are strengthening the safeguards that ensure judges are evaluated on thei