Hector LaSalle is unlikely to have the votes for confirmation even if he received consideration from the full state Senate, Democratic Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Tuesday said. 

Stewart-Cousins did not fully rule out having a vote on LaSalle's nomination as chief judge weeks after the state Senate Judiciary Committee rejected it, which ultimately triggered a lawsuit last week by Republican state Sen. Anthony Palumbo. 

• SEE ALSO | New York Sen. Anthony Palumbo on the GOP’s lawsuit regarding Hector LaSalle

"The reality has not changed and unfortunately this nominee does not have the votes," she said at a week news conference with reporters. "We've got lots and lots of work to do. We've got a $227 billion budget." 

A hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for Friday in Suffolk County. 

LaSalle was nominated in December by Gov. Kathy Hochul to become the top judge in New York and lead New York's Court of Appeals. Democratic lawmakers, as well as progressive advocates and labor unions, opposed the nomination, pointing to his rulings that affected labor leaders as well as criminal justice measures. 

Hochul has not filed a legal challenge to the Judiciary Committee rejecting the nominee and this week distanced herself from the suit, telling reporters in Rochester she was not involved with Palumbo's filing. Hochul is yet to formally withdraw LaSalle's name from consideration and re-start the nominating process for a chief judge. 

Republicans on Monday in the state Senate have not committed to voting for LaSalle, either. But they have questioned the process of the committee voting down the nominee. LaSalle's supporters in New York's tight-knit legal community have also questioned the procedure, noting the state constitution does not specify a chief judge having to clear a committee. 

But Democrats have been firm the nominating process was properly adhered to when LaSalle's nomination was rejected. 

"The constitution allows us to make our rules and our rules were certainly followed," Stewart-Cousins said. "The idea of this being a lawsuit, I don't even understand it, because we are entitled to make our rules."