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Virginia Long
Virginia Long was a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Justice Long was appointed by Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman and was sworn in on September 1, 1999. Her term expired on March 1, 2012, when she reached the age of mandatory retirement (70).
Education
Long received her B.A. from Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross in 1963 and her J.D. from Rutgers Law School in 1966.[1]
Career
Long has had a varied legal career. In the public sector, she has served as a Deputy Attorney General, Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, and as Commissioner of the former New Jersey Department of Banking. She practiced law with the firm Pitney, Hardin, Kipp and Szuch. In 1978, she was appointed to the Superior Court. Sher served in this capacity until 1983, when she spent as year as a General Equity judge. In 1984, she was appointed to the Appellate Division by Robert N. Willentz, Chief Justice. In 1995, she became presiding judge of the court. In 1999, she was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court where she served until her retirement in March 2012.[2]
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Long received a campaign finance score of 0.38, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.05 that justices received in New Jersey.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[3]
See also
- News: Justice Long retires from New Jersey Supreme Court, March 5, 2012
External links
- New Jersey Judiciary, Justice Virginia Long (dead link)
- Project Vote Smart, Justice Virginia Long (NJ)
- .html Find Law, "The New Jersey Supreme Court Recognizes a Conditional Privilege to Report on Plaintiffs' Initial Pleadings Without Fear of a Libel Suit," May 24, 2010 (dead link)
Footnotes
