In the Matter of Arthur S. Cowen, Respondents, Against Grace A. Reavy, Constituting the Civil Service…

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals held that the Civil Service Commission's weighting of 60% to training, experience and general qualifications in the unemployment insurance referee examination violated the State Constitution's merit‑based competitive examination requirement, and that the minimum qualification requiring attorneys to be graduates of a recognized law school unreasonably discriminated against other attorneys. The Court affirmed the lower court's cancellation of the examination but remanded to Special Term to determine the reasonableness of the additional experience qualifications. Justice Sears dissented, agreeing with the majority on the weighting and law‑school requirement but arguing that the Commission's discretion over experience qualifications should not be judicially reviewed.