State v. Vega-Larregui, 246 N.J. 94 (2021). The Supreme Court today unanimously ruled that virtual grand juries, a step occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, are constitutional. The Court’s opinion, written by Justice Albin, rejected defense claims that the procedure violated defendants’ constitutional right, under Article I, paragraph 8 of the New Jersey Constitution, to a fair grand jury presentation and denied defendants equal protection of the laws. The opinion also rebuffed the argument that the Court lacked the power to authorize virtual grand juries.
The opinion runs 59 pages and contains extensive reasoning and numerous citations. Without dismissing that useful detail, the bottom line was that the Court found the defense arguments that a virtual grand jury lacks the protections and safeguards afforded by a traditional grand jury to be based on “conjecture” and “supposition.”
Not only did the Court rebuff defendant’s constitutional claims, the Court also held that virtual grand juries did not violate New Jersey’s doctrine of fundamental fairness, which goes beyond what the Constitution otherwise requires. [For more on fundamental fairness, which is also sometimes known as the “fairness and rightness” doctrine, see my article titled “New Jersey’s ‘Fairness and Rightness’ Doctrine,” 15 Rutgers L.J. 927 (1984). The Court has cited that article in prior cases but did not do so in today’s opinion.]
Justice Albin readily disposed of the contention that the Court lacked the power to implement virtual grand juries. The Court had that authority under Article VI, section 2, paragraph 3 of the New Jersey Constitution, which provides that “[t]he Supreme Court shall make rules governing the administration of all courts in the State and, subject to the law, the practice and procedure in all such courts.” This affords “sweeping authority” over the courts, including grand juries.
Justice Albin made clear that virtual grand juries will not always be with us. “Virtual grand juries are a temporary measure invoked to meet an extraordinary, life-threatening public health crisis…. [W]e look forward in the near future to a return to normalcy and to reopened courthouses –and to grand jurors sitting together in the same room where testimony is taken.” For now, the challenge to virtual grand juries has failed.