In separate hearings yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Governor Murphy’s nominations of Judge Fasciale and Rachel Wainer Apter to the Supreme Court. They would fill the seats that became vacant when Justices LaVecchia and Fernandez-Vina retired. Judge Fasciale would fill the later seat and Ms. Wainer Apter the former. The Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in favor of Judge Fasciale’s nomination. The vote on Ms. Wainer Apter was 8-3, with all of the Committee’s Democrats and Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union) voting in favor. Three other Republican...

After much delay, an agreement has been reached under which Governor Murphy will re-nominate Rachel Wainer Apter, whom he nominated to fill a Supreme Court seat nearly eighteen months ago, to the Supreme Court. He will nominate Judge Fasciale for another open Supreme Court seat. This will be a “package deal,” as Ms. Apter is a Democrat and Judge Fasciale a Republican. If both nominees are confirmed, the Court would have three Democrats (Chief Justice Rabner and Justices Pierre-Louis and Wainer Apter) and three Republicans (Justices Patterson, Solomon, and Fasciale). One seat...

Today, Chief Justice Rabner issued the 2022-2023 General Assignment Order. From an appellate perspective, the headline news is that Judges Fisher, Sabatino, and Fasciale have been temporarily assigned to the Supreme Court effective September 1. The Chief Justice issued an order to that effect today as well, as discussed here. With that having occurred, the lineup of Presiding Judges of Parts of the Appellate Division has changed significantly, as all three judges assigned to the Supreme Court had been Presiding Judges of their respective Parts. Judges Gibbons Whipple (Part A), Currier (Part...