ALBANY — State Senate Democrats are set to stack a key legislative committee with progressives in order to block Gov. Kathy Hochul’s nomination of centrist Judge Hector LaSalle to lead New York’s highest court.

A resolution approved along party lines on Wednesday, the first day of the 2023 legislative session in Albany, expands the Judiciary Committee from 15 to 19 members – three Democrats and one Republican.

The maneuver could give progressives just enough votes to ensure the nomination does not reach the full chamber, LaSalle could get approved by a bipartisan majority to become the state’s first Hispanic chief judge.

“It is a bit of a set-up,” Republican state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-Riverhead) told The Post.

There are 12 members — eight Democrats and four Republicans — expected to return to the committee this year, with the remaining seven expected to be named in the coming days.

Progressive State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), who has already expressed opposition to LaSalle, confirmed Wednesday that she will be named to the committee, seemingly titling the panel away from the embattled nominee.

Six Republican members could side with the two Democrats on the panel who have already said they support LaSalle — state Sen. Luis Sepulveda and Kevin Thomas — to leave him just two votes short of getting approved.

Those votes could come from a handful of returning Democrats who have yet to say which way they are leaning on the matter as Republicans begin signaling they might get behind LaSalle, who currently serves on the busy Second Department of the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in Brooklyn.

“We are keeping an open mind and I think that’s probably the right move at this point – for every senator,” state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt (R-Lockport) told The Post Wednesday said while adding GOP senators would discuss LaSalle next week as a group.

Senate Democrats maintain they are not stacking the committee but simply adding members while maintaining the existing balance with their colleagues across the aisle.

“I don’t think there’s any predetermined outcome,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) said when asked whether Democrats were stacking his committee with LaSalle critics.

The Manhattan Democrat noted that the Judiciary Committee had 23 members before his party took control of the chamber following the 2018 election.

“I think the ultimate vote of the Judiciary Committee is going to reflect the overall sentiment of the Democratic Conference,” he added.

LaSalle has faced stiff opposition from progressives legislators, criminal justice reformers and some labor unions largely over a handful of rulings that purportedly demonstrate his opposition to abortion rights, workers and due process.

His supporters have celebrated him potentially becoming the first Latino to lead the Court of Appeals while defending his past judicial decisions as simply upholding the rule of law.

Mike Murphy, a spokesman for state Senate Democratic Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) pushed back Wednesday against the idea that the committee was expanded in order to block LaSalle.

“The partisan make up of the committee hasn’t changed. I understand Republicans have a touhg time counting votes but math is math,” Murphy said.

But the battle over LaSalle is more of a fight between Democrats than between the two party conferences as the Hochul administration continues reaches out to both sides of the aisle to support her pick despite the publicly stated opposition of at least 13 Democratic state senators.

A spokeswoman for the governor did not provide immediate comment Wednesday.

That leaves roughly 50 out of 63 members of the chamber who could help LaSalle get over the finish lines, especially if the 21 Republican senators – none of whom have yet publicly said they would vote yes on the nomination – vote in unison to help Hochul get a win to kick off her newly-won term in office while sticking it to Democratic majority.

“Looks pretty good to me,” state Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R-Elmira) said Wednesday of LaSalle before adding he will make up his mind on the nomination after the upcoming hearing.