Mary Fuchs writes in the Newark Star-Ledger:
When the the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission asked me to testify, I examined the decisions of that court in its capital cases. I was astonished. And I am not easily astonished. After California in the Bird years followed by 20 years of the Ninth Circus, I thought I had seen the ultimate in raw judicial contortion of the law to fit the judge's political goals. I had not.
It's not the hottest issue on the campaign trail, but how the candidates for governor stand on the appointment of state Supreme Court justices could affect New Jersey for years to come.For the sake of the people of New Jersey, I hope the next governor is someone who recognizes what a travesty that court has been and is determined to change it.
That's because the next governor could remake the seven-member court by appointing as many as four justices....
When the the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission asked me to testify, I examined the decisions of that court in its capital cases. I was astonished. And I am not easily astonished. After California in the Bird years followed by 20 years of the Ninth Circus, I thought I had seen the ultimate in raw judicial contortion of the law to fit the judge's political goals. I had not.
I concluded, and told the commission, that there was no way they would ever have an effective death penalty unless and until they fixed the New Jersey Supreme Court. They couldn't. It would have taken a constitutional amendment, and the political consensus wasn't there for that. The official repeal by the legislature was a formality. The court had already repealed the death penalty.
I don't expect the death penalty issue to come back in that state, but judicial activism is never confined to one issue. If the next governor will really make four appointments, maybe New Jersey can fix its high court without a constitutional amendment. Let us hope that its people are wise enough to elect a governor who will really do that.
I don't expect the death penalty issue to come back in that state, but judicial activism is never confined to one issue. If the next governor will really make four appointments, maybe New Jersey can fix its high court without a constitutional amendment. Let us hope that its people are wise enough to elect a governor who will really do that.
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