NJ Supreme Court fastracks pension lawsuit

November 28, 2011

Trenton, New Jersey: The fighting continues to rage between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the state's judicial system as the New Jersey Supreme Court announced its decision to fast track the case over federal judge pension payments. The new budget law, designed to increase the amount judges pay into their pensions was originally blocked by Judge Linda R. Feinberg after a lawsuit from Judge Paul DePascale, a superior court judge in Hudson County. Feinberg held that the law was unconstitutional as it constituted a change in judicial pay, which was blocked by the constitution. After heavily criticizing Feinberg's ruling as "self-serving," Christie is now targeting the state Supreme Court for their decision to expedite the case and has referred to the justices as "unelected, unresponsive public servants" and "the exalted elite." Christie told the press, "So why the rush? That type of manipulation of the judicial process would be awfully disconcerting to those of us who hold licenses to practice law in this state to think that kind of politics is going on in the court." However, legal scholars in the state argue that the practice is not uncommon and court rules allow the court to act on issues where there is no question of fact and that are of immediate public interest. The court has set the deadline for the state to submit arguments at December 28 and gave DePascale until January 27 to file a response.

See also

• New Jersey judicial news
• New Jersey Supreme Court
• News: Pension quagmire pits Christie against judges, October 21, 2011