On December 10, 2012, Governor Christie nominated Robert Hanna, currently the Director of the Board of Public Utilties, and Judge David Bauman of the Superior Court of Monmouth County, to fill the two vacant seats on the Supreme Court. Two and one-half months later, neither nominee has gone before the Judiciary Committee, and no date has been announced when either of them will do so.
In the interim, of course, the winter holidays occurred, cutting back the available legislative time for action. Moreover, the Judiciary Committee has rapidly considered and approved 20 nominees for seats on the Superior Court. So it is not that the Committee is unwilling to consider judicial nominations. Moreover, the vetting process for the Supreme Court may justifiably be more intense than that for the Superior Court, since the highest Court is involved and there are only seven seats on that Court.
Nonetheless, it is time for the Committee to take up the Supreme Court nominations or, at the very least, to announce a date certain, in the near future, when one or both nominees will be considered. The Court has had at least one vacancy since May 2010, when Governor Christie declined to reappoint Justice Wallace. Meanwhile, a second seat became vacant when Justice Long reached the mandatory retirement age nearly one year ago. The four different judges of the Appellate Division who have filled the vacancies on the Court are all of the highest caliber, but the public is entitled to see a full complement of Justices who are nominated by a Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
This is an election year, and the closer that election day comes, the more politicized (by both parties) any hearing on either or both Supreme Court nominee may be, and the less attention the Senators may be able to give to the nominations since the Senators’ own seats will be contested this fall. The Judiciary Committee should set a firm date to take up one or both nominations in the near future.