On April 24, the New York State Court of Appeals (the highest state court in that state) heard one case involving an intra-party dispute in the Independence Party, and another one involving such a dispute in the Working Families Party.

The Independence Party case is called Conroy v State Committee of Independence Party. It concerns a state party rule that deprives New York City branches of the party the ability to decide whether to let candidates who are members of other parties enter the Independence Party primary. The motivation for the rule was that Lenora Fulani supporters control the New York City branches of the party, and the state officers are opposed to her and desire to limit her power in the party.

The Court of Appeals judges seemed intent on deciding the issue by figuring out what the New York state election law says about the issue, even though that is very difficult, since the law is not only unclear, but virtually contradictory. The mid-level court had split the difference, ruling that the local New York city party officials could enjoy authority over the 3 citywide offices, but not the district offices within the city.

The other case is called Master v Pohanka. The Working Families Party has a rule that the state officers of the party have jurisdiction over whether members of other parties may enter the Working Families Party primary. Some county officials of the party claim that the state party rule violates the election code, and desire more local control.