With breathtaking speed, Walter Timpone, whom Governor Christie, in a surprise move, nominated to the Supreme Court on April 11, and who cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday with a unanimous vote, was today confirmed by the full Senate. The vote was 32-1. There was no floor debate. Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) was the only one to vote against the nomination.
With this appointment, the Court will now have a full complement of seven Justices for the first time since 2010. Three of the Justices– Justices Albin, Patterson, and Timpone– will have joined the Court directly from private practice at large North Jersey firms.
There have been other Justices who came to the Court from private practice, including its first woman Justice, Justice Garibaldi. Some of those Justices had previously served in major posts in government, such as Justice (later Chief Justice) Zazzali, who had been Attorney General. But this is the first time that the Court has had as many as three Justices who came from private practice with no prior judicial experience or a track record in a major public agency (Justice Timpone has served on the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission). That is not necessarily either a good thing or a bad thing. But it is a first.
Welcome, Justice Timpone!