New Jersey

New Jersey Supreme Court
Democratic Appointment (Gubernatorial)
7 Justices
7 year initial terms, Life appointment
State High Court Selection Process Legal Sources
General

  • The Governor nominates and appoints Supreme Court Justices with the advice and consent of the Senate.
  • The Senate Judiciary Committee makes a report with a recommendation to confirm or reject or a report without any recommendation that is presented before the Senate.
  • Twenty-one Senators are required to vote in the affirmative to confirm the nomination.
  • At the end of a Justice’s term, the Justice is subject to reappointment. If reappointed, the Justice will hold office for life.

Interim Vacancies

  • The Governor nominates and appoints Supreme Court Justices with the advice and consent of the Senate.
  • The Senate Judiciary Committee makes a report with a recommendation to confirm or reject or a report without any recommendation that is presented before the Senate.
  • Twenty-one Senators are required to vote in the affirmative to confirm the nomination.

    Docket Watch

  • New Jersey Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Judicial Pensions Case

    This article provides a brief history of the Pension and Health Care Benefits Act and the DePascale litigation challenging it. It also discusses ways in which this decision is likely to have continuing significance in the debate in New Jersey about the proper role of the judiciary and the composition of the current Supreme Court, which is likely to change in the coming year.

  • New Jersey Supreme Court Rules Homeowners’ Association’s Sign Restriction on the Interior of a Unit Is Unconstitutional

    On June 13, 2012, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed the appellate division’s ruling and found that the sign restrictions adopted by Mazdabrook Commons Homeowners’ Association (“Association”) violate the free speech clause of the state constitution.1 In Mazdabrook Commons Homeowners’ Ass’n v. Khan2 (“Mazdabrook”), the court held that a homeowner’s free-speech right to post political signs in his home outweighed the private property interest of a homeowners’ association. The court found the restriction at issue—which had amounted to a near-complete ban on all residential signs—to be unreasonable and unconstitutional. However, the homeowners’ associations can still adopt reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, providing adequate alternative means of communication.3

  • New Jersey Demands More from Eyewitnesses: State v. Henderson

    On November 2, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments in Perry v. New Hampshire, where it will determine whether a court is required to exclude eyewitness identification evidence whenever the identification was made under circumstances that make the identification unreliable because they tended to suggest that the defendant was responsible for the crime, or only when the police are responsible for the circumstances that make the identification unreliable.

  • New Jersey Supreme Court Requires Police to Give Breathalyzer Warnings in Foreign Languages

    When a police officer stops a suspected drunk driver in New Jersey, and the driver refuses an alcohol breath test, state law requires the officer to inform the driver of the consequences of his refusal, including the automatic loss of license.1 What if the driver is not (apparently) able to speak or understand English? Must the police warn the driver in his native language? In July, a divided New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that they must.

  • Judicial Election

    Judges are elected by popular vote.

  • Democratic Appointment

    Judges are appointed directly by a democratic body, or appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of some democratic body.