The unprecedented number of judicial vacancies in New Jersey is being slowly chipped away. Lawmakers in the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday vetted six more nominees for Superior Court judgeships, as part of the slow-moving process that has left the state’s court system in shambles. The nominees were unanimously approved.
Just last month, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced a pause on all civil trials in two judicial regions, which affected six counties — Hunterdon, Somerset, Warren, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties. Civil cases, like divorce, domestic abuse, custody and personal injury trials, are on hold indefinitely.
“I’ve had cases where clients have been evicted because they can’t get before a judge to have a trial to fix the situation in their divorce. I’ve had clients where the parents are involved in a custody dispute and the child starts self-harming, because the child’s so stressed out. And we couldn’t get before a judge,” said attorney Marisa Baker of Baker Legal Group.
Currently, there are 67 Superior Court vacancies. Twenty-five vacancies is the maximum the court system can handle while still operating efficiently. Even the courts that are open now are completely backed up.
“It’s nice that they’re putting six through today, but when you know that there’s twenty-three in the pipeline, six is really an unfortunate number,” said Jeralyn Lawrence, president of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
