The tension between the governor and the New Jersey Supreme Court reached a fever pitch in 2013. Before the ink even dried on the court’s decision in In re Plan for the Abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, No. 070426 (N.J. July 10, 2013),Gov. Christie excoriated the chief justice for his “activist opinion,” which the governor charged “arrogantly bolsters another of the failures he and his colleagues have foisted on New Jersey taxpayers.” The governor also proclaimed that the chief justice’s opinion “steels my determination to fight to bring common sense back to New Jersey’s judiciary.”
Gov. Christie’s latest salvo shook the foundation of the Hughes Justice Center, causing political commentators to openly speculate whether or not Chief Justice Rabner will be re-nominated. In the partisan rancor that followed, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled that Justice Hoens might be the next casualty in the fight over the composition of the Supreme Court. This threat apparently caused Gov. Christie to advise Justice Hoens that her name would not be submitted for renomination. For the first time in the modern era, there is a palpable fear in the legal community that the New Jersey Supreme Court may not be able to maintain its standing as a third equal branch of government. The governor then chose to nominate Camden County Assignment Judge Faustino Fernandez-Vina as an associate justice. This lifted the spirits of the trial bar, who was happy to see a member of their ranks ascend to the high court.
