Call it the high price of justice.
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has agreed to slash $100 million from the state courts’ budget, ending an awkward standoff with Gov. Cuomo that cast an unflattering light on judiciary spending, The Post has learned.
The powerful Court of Appeals chief, who oversees the state’s sprawling court system, told Cuomo late last week that he would resubmit as early as today a new $2.6 billion spending plan for next year — about $100 million less than his earlier proposal, two sources said.
Details of the pared-down proposal were unclear, but a legislative source said Lippman would implement a “hard” hiring freeze. The cuts would reduce this year’s budget by $50 million, or about 2 percent.
The move comes after The Post exposed Lippman’s frequent attendance at taxpayer-funded junkets and the Court of Appeals’ decision to spend a jaw-dropping $23 million to renovate an Albany building that included a hotel exclusively for the court’s seven judges.