A judge set an Oct. 29 hearing on Gillio Lopes's bid to remove Letitia James from the Cornell investigation.

An order to show cause is a scheduling order. It is not a ruling that Letitia James is biased, and it is not a finding about what happened at the Chi Phi house. What it does is make the challenge real: Hochul and James now have to answer it in court, with 30 minutes a side on Oct. 29. Until a judge rules, James stays in charge of the investigation.

Los Angeles Magazine reported that on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, Acting Supreme Court Justice James R. Farrell signed an order to show cause on the Article 78 petition Gillio Lopes filed two days earlier. The order directs attorneys for Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James to appear for oral arguments on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. in Monticello, New York, with 30 minutes for each side. The magazine reported the order authorizes service of the petition and supporting papers by Oct. 13 and sets deadlines for written arguments before the hearing. Daily Voice reported the same hearing date, citing Los Angeles Magazine. Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Lopes, told Los Angeles Magazine, "The court has signed our order to show cause and scheduled a hearing for October 29. This is an important development because it gives the court an opportunity to consider our concerns directly." The order does not remove James. It sets the date when a judge will hear the argument.

NBC News reported that on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, a lawyer for Gillio Lopes filed an Article 78 petition in Albany County Supreme Court against Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul. The Associated Press reported the same day that one of the men named in the civil lawsuit filed the petition. Lopes is one of seven men named by a former Cornell student, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, who alleges she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. NBC News reported Lopes has denied that he sexually assaulted her, and that none of the men named in the suit have been criminally charged. An Article 78 petition is the New York proceeding used to challenge an official's action. Filing it does not remove James. A judge has to rule.

NBC News reported the filing says James has "unequivocally demonstrated a bias and presumption of guilt against the defendants named in the Civil Case." It cites a post her office shared on X on Sept. 28, three days before the appointment was announced: "What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I'm holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you're not alone. We stand with you." ABC News reported that Andrew Miltenberg, who represents Lopes, wrote that through that statement James "has made clear that she has formed an opinion about the case, that she believes the allegations made by Jane Doe, and that she has already reached the conclusion that Petitioner and the other named Defendants are guilty." ABC News reported the filing asks the court to void the appointment and to require a prosecutor "who is free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest or bias." NBC News reported it also asks that the appointment be annulled or modified so James is not personally directing the probe or any resulting prosecution.

NBC News reported James's office declined to comment on the filing. The Associated Press reported a spokesperson for James declined to comment. NBC News reported that on Monday James said, "My office enforces our state's laws to protect all New Yorkers. I am committed to leading a comprehensive investigation they can trust, guided only by the facts, the evidence, and the law." ABC News reported that at a news conference last week, asked about the post, she said, "I will not comment on a Facebook post." NBC News reported Hochul's office on Wednesday pointed back to comments the governor made last week: "I have every confidence in our Attorney General to do what she has always done: look at the facts, examine the record and draw the proper conclusions. That's exactly what's going to happen in this case." Stuart Bernstein, also an attorney for Lopes, told NBC News, "As Governor Hochul has said, the public needs confidence in the individual leading this investigation. AG James, based upon her very public statements validating Jane Doe, certainly doesn't instill confidence in a fair investigation."

The petition follows a public request, not a new set of facts about the night in question. Fox News reported Saturday, Oct. 4, 2026, that Miltenberg asked James to recuse herself personally and to leave the file with senior prosecutors in her office who had not commented on the merits. He told Fox News there is a difference between expressing compassion for someone who reports a sexual assault and appearing to accept the factual premise of the allegation before an investigation. Hochul appointed James on Oct. 1, replacing Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. ABC News reported Thursday that Miltenberg said Lopes was suspended for one year after a campus finding that he participated in sexual activity when Jane Doe was "incapable of conveying consent," that he was ordered to take an educational restorative class and submit an essay, and that he has continued at Cornell. A campus sanction is not a criminal conviction. Miltenberg told ABC News, "I think that his life and the lives of the other young men has already been destroyed in the court of public opinion." That is his argument. The Albany petition is still a request. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.