Governor Kryptonite Takes on the Guardians of New Jersey’s Legal Establishment
May 12, 2010
The guardians of New Jersey’s legal establishment are up in arms over Governor Chris Christie’s “refusal” to reappoint Justice John E. Wallace, Jr., stirring a “furious controversy and charges the governor is jeopardizing judicial independence.” At least that’s how the gavel grabbers over at Justice at Stake describe it.
Exactly what has Governor Christie done to threaten the judiciary’s independence? Follow the state Constitution as near as I can tell.
New Jersey’s Constitution is pretty cut and dried. The governor is given the power to appoint Supreme Court Justices with the advice and consent of the Senate. After an initial term of seven years, the governor has the option to reappoint a Justice, who is then free to serve until the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Nowhere does the Constitution say the governor must reappoint a Justice. There’s no presumption in that document that every Justice should be reappointed – the Constitution is entirely silent on the matter. But the fact that New Jersey’s Framers did not give Justices lifetime appointments on the first go-around suggests they wanted the Judiciary to be at least indirectly accountable to the people, through their highest elected representative, the governor. If the Framers wanted to make Supreme Court Justices 100 percent “independent” from the people, they had every opportunity to do so. Instead, they had the wisdom to balance the virtues of independence and accountability.
Governor Christie, according to the New York Times, believed “the historically liberal court” had gotten “‘out of control’ over the last three decades, usurping the roles of the governor and the Legislature in setting social and tax policies.” That’s exactly the problem the authors of New Jersey’s Constitution wanted to guard against by giving the governor the final say over whether a justice is reappointed for life after a seven year “try-out” on the bench.
Governor Christie’s real sin was not to threaten the “independence” of New Jersey’s Supreme Court – it was to upset the clubby, insider tradition whereby any justice who wants to keep his/her seat is automatically reappointed. New Jersey’s legal establishment better get used to it – four more sitting Supreme Court Justices will hit either the end of their seven years or mandatory retirement age during Governor Kryptonite’s first term.
Posted by Dan Pero in the categories: Justice at Stake, New Jersey
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