Christie nominates woman lawyer to replace Justice

TRENTON - Gov. Christie on Monday nominated a North Jersey lawyer to replace Justice John E. Wallace Jr. on the New Jersey Supreme Court, departing from decades of a tradition among the state's governors to renominate sitting justices.

Wallace, 68, a Gloucester County Democrat, is the court's only African American justice.

Christie's decision, which came just weeks before Wallace's initial seven-year appointment was set to expire on May 20, drew an immediate and angry response from leading Democrats and African American leaders. Republicans and conservatives, who have long criticized the state Supreme Court as legislating from the bench, cheered the decision.

Christie nominated Anne M. Patterson, a corporate litigator from Morris County who previously served as a deputy attorney general in New Jersey, to replace Wallace. Patterson, a registered Republican, would bring the tally on the state's highest court to three Republicans, three Democrats, and one unaffiliated justice.

The Republican governor said Monday his decision should not have come as a surprise to anyone, given what he said on the campaign trail.

"I expressed over and over again my significant concern regarding the direction of the Supreme Court over the last nearly 30 years, that there were not the appropriate constitutional balances being struck by the court, that the court over the course of this time, in my view, had inappropriately encroached on both the executive and legislative function, and that if elected governor, I would take steps through the decisions I made regarding the court to bring back an appropriate constitutional balance to the court," Christie said in a news conference.

Christie said he met with Wallace Monday morning to let him know his decision.

Wallace is the first Supreme Court justice seeking renomination to be denied tenure under the current state constitution, which dates to 1947. One previous justice, whose renomination was expected to be controversial, declined to seek renomination.

Wallace declined to comment. A renomination means lifetime tenure for a justice, although Wallace would have faced the mandatory retirement age of 70 in two years.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said he was "personally outraged" that Wallace was not reappointed.

"I think the governor can say whatever he wants to say - there's no way he can look in the mirror and say politics had nothing to do with this," Sweeney said. "I think he sent a message to judiciary that either you do it my way or it's the highway."

Appointments to the state Supreme Court are subject to confirmation by the Senate, which means Sweeney and his colleagues can stall or deny Patterson's nomination.

Sweeney said that while he did not know much about Patterson, "I think we would be doing a disservice to the entire justice system if we took up this nomination now."

"I have no game plan beyond the fact that we're not hearing any nominees in this situation," Sweeney added. "This situation has sent shock waves through the judiciary, that if you don't do things the way the governor does things, you won't be there."

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said, "This is a grave act by the governor, and it's something that I am certain that the Senate will not allow to stand.

"There will be a vacancy for that position and Justice Rabner will call up the senior appellate decision judge . . . to fill in that spot as needed," he added.

Phillip S. Warner Sr., the Southern New Jersey regional coordinator for the New Jersey state conference of the NAACP, said he was extremely disappointed.

"Our conservative friends on the right are constantly labeling judges who interpret constitutional law as activist judges, but I think that term only comes into play when the justices rule on something that conservatives disagree with," Warner said.

Following Christie's announcement, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner issued a strongly worded statement to the justices and judges of New Jersey.

"Justice Wallace has earned respect and admiration for his more than 30 years as a municipal court judge, trial and appellate judge, and justice of the Supreme Court," the statement read. "He is an intellectually honest, wise, and independent thinker, a fair-minded jurist, a gifted, thoughtful writer, and a model of integrity and character. His exemplary and honorable record speaks for itself, and his departure is a loss to the judiciary."

Rabner said the delegates of the Constitutional Convention of 1947 "understood the enduring value of having judges decide cases not with an eye toward reappointment but by fairly and honestly applying the law to the facts, free from any political pressures or influence."

Christie, a former federal prosecutor, said he took the decision very seriously, taking the time to read the minutes of the constitutional convention.

The framers of the state constitution, Christie said, rejected the idea of initially appointing judges for life.

"I believe they did that for a reason and they did it so that those who are elected by the people could make an evaluation of the tenor, tone, and direction of the court and to evaluate the court as well as its individual members," Christie said.

The governor said his office had considered dozens of candidates for the position and that he had personally interviewed Wallace and some of his potential replacements.

Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R., Bergen), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that while Wallace passed muster based on his character and legal scholarship, he was also "clearly a part of the liberal legal establishment."

By choosing not to reappointment Wallace, "Christie has indicated he has the courage and the character to make the changes that are needed," Cardinale said.

"It is not just an ideological thing," Cardinale said. "The people of New Jersey cannot afford the policies that the court has brought down on them."

Among the Supreme Court decisions conservatives decry are the Abbott rulings, which guaranteed that a disproportionate amount of state funding be directed to the poorest school districts, and decisions requiring all towns to provide for affordable housing. Both cases preceded Wallace's term on the court.

New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman Jay Webber said Christie "is keeping his promise to the people of New Jersey to bring necessary, fundamental, and lasting change to our state."

Christie is expected to have the opportunity to appoint at least three more justices to the state's top bench. Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, the court's only Hispanic member, will be up for reappointment next April. Justice Virginia Long will face mandatory retirement in 2012 and Justice Helen Hoens, whose husband works for the Christie administration, will be up for reappointment in 2013.

There is no question Christie is within his legal rights to not reappoint Wallace, said Robert Williams, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Law in Camden who follows the state Supreme Court.

Still, Williams said, Monday marked a "very important day in the history of the New Jersey judiciary."

"It remains to be seen what the impact of it is."