State in the Interest of D.M., ___ N.J. ___ (2019). In this juvenile delinquency case, neither the State nor defendant sought oral argument in the Appellate Division. The State, the respondent in that court, explained that it believed the issues raised by defendant on appeal of the Family Part’s finding of delinquency by endangering the welfare of a child were governed by settled law. However, the Appellate Division sua sponte directed the parties to file supplemental briefs on a new issue: ““whether the lack of a finding of penetration or coercion undermines the delinquency...

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On this date in 1965, the Supreme Court decided Tidewater Oil Co. v. Mayor & Council of Borough of Carteret, 44 N.J. 338 (1965), a municipal land use case.  That is still the leading case on the question of the extent to which a question of constitutional law allows a party to pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court as of right, as opposed to on a petition for certification, whose grant is discretionary with the Supreme Court.  Subsequent cases have addressed that issue as well, but Tidewater is the foundation for those decisions. As the Court’s per curiam opinion noted, the New...