Editor’s Note: Daniel J. O’Hern served as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court for 19 years. During much of that time, he saved memos from his colleagues, letters from Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz to members of the Court, charts that outlined the pros and cons of cases during Court conferences, sketches by justices about their day-to-day life together and oral arguments, and photographs of the justices, among other mementos. Justice O’Hern used these keepsakes, his recollections and notes to himself to form the foundation for his book, What Makes a Court Supreme, which looks at his years on the Wilentz Court and at the justices who served with him. This is the first of nine weekly installments of the book, which was completed shortly before his death on April 1, 2009.