It's Disorder in the Court

ALBANY -- Senate Democrats capped a day of legal skirmishing yesterday with a small -- and potentially short-lived -- victory, as more courtroom wrangling looms today.

Yesterday, an appeals judge granted a court order the Democrats say bars coup leader Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx) from acting as Senate president. The order doesn't appear to prohibit the coalition from controlling the Senate, as it plans to do in regular session on Monday.

The late-afternoon action by Appellate Division Justice Karen Peters in upstate Kingston came as deposed Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) carried the fight from the Capitol to a series of upstate courtrooms in a desperate power play.

Peters' action reversed an earlier decision in upstate Troy, in which a lower-court judge said he lacked the authority to issue such an order.

The decision's significance was quickly played down by Espada's Republican supporters, who argued the temporary restraining order only prevented him from becoming the state's de facto chief executive if Gov. Paterson is out of the state or otherwise unable to serve.

Regardless, the opportunity to savor any victory may be brief for the Democrats.

Both sides were due for a hearing in an Albany courtroom this morning, where Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara is expected to hash out the central issue -- whether the Republicans' vote to install Espada and Dean Skelos of Long Island as Senate leaders was valid.

McNamara, first appointed by GOP Gov. George Pataki, has a reputation as a stern, acerbic jurist who issues quick, no-nonsense opinions.

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