Thomas Quinones Admonished

Thomas Quinones, a New York Supreme Court justice in Westchester County, was admonished by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for three separate violations. In 2022, Quinones completed character reference letters for two family friends applying for pistol licenses, identifying himself on the letters as a "Supreme Court Justice" employed by the "NYS Courts" — improperly lending his judicial title to their applications. He later sent a letter to the Westchester County Clerk's Pistol Licensing Division attempting to rescind the letters. Separately, on August 20, 2022, Quinones initiated and engaged in improper ex parte communications with a plaintiff's attorney in a matrimonial case pending before him — the same underlying matter in which fellow Justice Lewis Lubell was separately admonished for giving Quinones improper advice. The Commission also found Quinones failed to file his financial disclosure statement within the required time. Quinones agreed to the admonition based on an agreed statement of facts.