UPDATED: NJ Senate panel approves Rabner, Solomon for Supreme Court | NJ.com

With yesterday's confirmation of Chief Justice Stewart Rabner and the newly appointed Lee Solomon the New Jersey judiciary crisis has abated.  It was created when on ideological and political grounds Gov. Chris Christie rejected two justices up for tenure.  that violated a sixty year old practice.  Judges were nominated for tenure after their first seven year term only if there had been bad behavior on or off the bench.

Although the Court has been nudged to the right, it has not - and now will not - repudiated its landmark open housing and school funding decisions.  Christie's plan to remake the Supreme court has been defeated.  There remains one vacancy but that is held by the moderate liberal senior Appellate Judge Mary Catherine Cuff who the Governor and Democrat leaders agreed may remain in place until she reaches mandatory retirement age in 2017.

Much work remains.  There are over forty vacancies in the state's 420 member Superior Court bench.  A constitutional amendment to grant tenure except for cases of misconduct will likely lose momentum, though extension of the mandatory retirement age of seventy may gain some force.

The Court's next crisis will come soon when the legality of the Governor's proposed default on pension obligations reaches the court.  And after that the court will have to decide the constitutionality of a statute that permits recall of judges over the mandatory retirement age.That measure has long helped the courts function despite numerous vacancies. - gwc

NJ Senate panel approves Rabner, Solomon for Supreme Court | NJ.com:

by Salvador Rizzo //The Star Ledger

A state Senate panel cleared Chief Justice Stuart Rabner for a tenured term on the New Jersey Supreme Court today, and approved Superior Court Judge Lee Solomon’s nomination to become an associate justice.

After a day of intense questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, both nominations now head to the full Senate. Rabner, 53, and Solomon, 59, are expected to win final confirmation, the result of an agreement between Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester).

Many legal observers doubted that the Republican governor — an outspoken critic of the Supreme Court and its rulings on school financing and affordable housing — would reappoint the Democratic chief justice.

But Christie gave Rabner a strong vote of confidence last month, clearing the way for him to lead the high court until he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70, in 2030. In return, Democrats agreed to elevate Solomon to one of two court vacancies. A seventh seat remains to be filled.

"I think you have all the necessary skills and temperament to be the best chief justice that the state has ever seen," Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told Rabner.

'via Blog this'