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New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, who announced the news Monday, urged state officials to continue appointing new judges. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)
Civil trials and divorce proceedings are resuming in Passaic County courts after lawmakers confirmed four judges to the bench there, a signal that the judicial vacancy crisis that has plagued the state for the last two years is waning.
New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced the news in a statement Monday, adding that he’s still asking lawmakers to continue addressing the state’s shortage of judges.
“We respectfully urge that the remaining vacancies in the vicinage be filled and offer to assist the legislative and executive branches with that important concern,” said Rabner.
Civil and matrimonial trials in Passaic County were suspended in July because there were not enough judges to hear them. Those trials in the vicinage that handles Hunterdon, Somerset, and Warren counties were also suspended for a year until March.
The state Senate confirmed 12 Superior Court judges in March. Courts spokeswoman MaryAnn Spoto said 39 judicial vacancies remain statewide, five of those being in the Passaic vicinage. Court officials have said they could operate sustainably with as many as 30 vacancies.
Timothy McGoughran, president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, said since last summer, family and civil litigants in the Passaic vicinage have lived with “uncertainty” regarding their progress through the judicial system. People in custody, parenting, and child support disputes, along with victims of discrimination and civil claimants, were “in limbo with no end in sight,” he noted.
“The courts can finally bring justice to this population of litigants,” he said, adding that the organization continues “urging the Governor and Senate to fill the remaining judge seats in the Passaic vicinage and in others across the state to avert another spike in Superior Court vacancies.”
The judicial shortage hit an all-time high in May 2022, when 78 positions needed to be filled on the bench.
New Jersey’s judges serve an initial seven-year term and can sit on the bench until they are 70 years old. Nearly 170 judges have been nominated and confirmed since Gov. Phil Murphy took office in January 2018.
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