Today is Election Day. In many jurisdictions, litigation efforts to restrict voting or voter choice are already underway and more litigation is being threatened. New Jersey’s Supreme Court, however, has repeatedly and correctly held that election laws are to be liberally construed. Here are three of those decisions, though others could be discussed as well: Catania v. Haberle, 123 N.J. 428 (1990). Here is how Chief Justice Wilentz’s opinion, for a unanimous Court, began: “The Passaic County Republican Committee and the Bergen County Republican Committee selected plaintiff...

On November 1, 1948, the Supreme Court decided Ebling Brewing Co. v. Heirloom, Inc., 1 N.J. 71 (1948). The appeal complained of the Chancery Court’s appointment of a receiver for the defendant corporation. By a 5-1 majority, the Court upheld the appointment. Justice Case wrote the majority opinion. Justice Heher was the dissenter. The key issue in the case was whether defendant’s demand for a jury trial in the Chancery Court was properly denied. Applying the 1844 Constitution, which governed given the timing of the case, the majority concluded that there was no right to a jury...

On this date in 1977, the Supreme Court decided Manning Engineering, Inc. v. Hudson County Park Comm’n, 74 N.J. 113 (1977). The unanimous opinion by Justice Pashman vacated a judgment obtained by the plaintiff engineering firm for payment for its services, an award that the Supreme Court itself had approved. See 71 N.J. 145 (1976). The Court acted to vacate the judgment because, about three weeks after that 1976 ruling, the Court was advised of “illegality in the procurement of the contract” on which the judgment was based. More particularly, “Manning had been awarded...