List of Chief Judges of the New York Court of Appeals
Chief Judges since 1974
After 1974, judges of the New York Court of Appeals were no longer elected, following reforms to the New York Constitution.

List of Chief Judges of the New York Court of Appeals

Section Title: Chief Judges since 1974
Table Section Text: After 1974, judges of the New York Court of Appeals were no longer elected, following reforms to the New York Constitution.

Name	Took office	Left office	Notes

Lawrence H. Cooke	January 23, 1979	December 31, 1984	First Chief Judge appointed by the Governor under constitutional amendment of 1977; age-limited

Sol Wachtler	January 2, 1985	November 11, 1992	Resigned

Richard D. Simons (acting)	November 17, 1992	March 22, 1993	Acted until the appointment of a successor

Judith S. Kaye	March 23, 1993	December 31, 2008	Reached mandatory retirement age; Chief Judge with the longest tenure (more than 15 years), only Chief Judge to complete a 14-year term

Jonathan Lippman	February 11, 2009	December 31, 2015

Eugene F. Pigott, Jr. (acting)	January 1, 2016	January 21, 2016

Janet DiFiore	January 21, 2016	incumbent

Sentence(s)

Janet DiFiore has been the Chief Judge of the State of New York since 2016.

final_sentence: Janet DiFiore has been the Chief Judge of the State of New York since 2016.