John Roberts

The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court is the secondtop court nomination since Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) joined the United States Senate in early 2006. He voted against the nomination of Samuel Alito in 2006.  The Sotomayor nomination will be eleventh Supreme Court nomination during the 25 years Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has served in the Senate.

Lautenberg has voted yes on four Supreme Court nominations -- Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia -- and no on six: Alito, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, William Rehnquist, and David Souter.  Lautenberg was among nine Senators to vote against Souter in 1990.  Souter's retirement created the opening for President Obama to nominate Sotomayor, who will become the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the nation's top court.

An apparent conflict exists between the Governor of New Jersey and the Chairman of the State Senate Judiciary Committee, both Democrats, over the role of the Senate in the confirmation of Supreme Court Justices.  Gov. Jon Corzine says that "providing advice and consent on the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice...should not be a shot in the dark," and that it is "vital that we learn everything we can about... (the) judicial philosophy" of a nominee.

But State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), in response to a request from Republicans on his committee seeking three days of hearings on the renomination of Associate Justice Barry Albin, says that while he'll provide "ample time time to discuss with Justice Albin the pertinent information to his re-nomination to the Supreme Court."  But Sarlo says he will "not allow for the politicizing of this appointment, because, frankly, I believe that Justice Albin, and the people of New Jersey, deserve better."

"Our judicial system is designed in such a way to insulate judges from politics," Sarlo said in a statement posted on PolitickerNJ.com today.  "For this very reason, judges are appointed, as opposed to elected, and their nomination is reviewed based on the merit of the person, not the weight of their politics.     

In September 2005, while Corzine was serving in the United States Senate, he announced that he could not "in good conscience vote to confirm Judge (John) Roberts as Chief Justice.

"While he has demonstrated intelligence and eloquence, he has not provided adequate insight into his views or judicial philosophy. The Supreme Court is too important and the stakes are too high to roll the dice on a judge who may sit on the bench for decades to come," Corzine said. "I fear that we have not learned all that we should learn about Judge Roberts for a lifetime appointment of such significance."

Frank Lautenberg probably didn't expect David Souter to vote with the liberal wing of the U.S. Supreme Court when he was appointed Associate Justice by George H.W. Bush in 1990.   New Jersey's two U.S. Senators at the time, Lautenberg and Bill Bradley, were among the nine Senators who voted against the Souter nomination.

During his 25 years in the Senate, Lautenberg has participated in ten Supreme Court nominations; he has voted yes on four (Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia), and has voted no on six (Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, William Rehnquist, and Souter).

Jon Corzine voted on one Supreme Court nomination during his five years in the Senate, casting a no vote on Roberts for Chief Justice.  Bradley voted on nine top court nominations while in the Senate from 1979 to 1997, supporting Breyer, Ginsberg, Kennedy, Scalia and Sandra Day O'Connor, and opposing Thomas, Souter, Bork and Rehnquist. 

Garrett Statement on Roberts Confirmation