Roberto Rivera-Soto

Roberto Rivera-Soto has not been an issue in the 2009 gubernatorial campaign, even though the winner will have to decide whether to reappoint the controversial Associate Justice to a tenured term on the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2011. None of the candidates have said if they would reappoint Rivera-Soto. 

The next governor will also have to appoint new Justices to replace Virginia Long and John Wallace, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of seventy in March 2012.  Another Justice, Helen Hoens, is up for reappointment in 2013.

Rivera-Soto, appointed in 2004 as the first Latino on the state's top court,

In 2007, the New Jersey Supreme Court censured Rivera-Soto for his role in a 2006 incident involving his son and a teammate on a high school football team.  The court agreed with a judicial conduct panel that Rivera-Soto "engaged in a course of conduct that created a risk that the prestige and power of his judicial office might influence and advance a private matter."  Rivera-Soto still faces a civil suit.

According to the New Jersey Law Journal, the “state Supreme Court announces it has quietly disposed of an ethics matter involving Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto's alleged breach of a sealing order in the Jayson Williams case.”

Although prominent members of the Republican Party will likely try to score political points over the upcoming reappointment of State Supreme Court Justice Barry Albin this year, Assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) would rather focus on the appointments he would actually have control over if he becomes governor.

"I would fire them all," said Merkt

Governor Jon Corzine will still be in office in September, when Albin, after serving seven years, will need to be reconfirmed to become tenured until mandatory retirement at age 70.  But Justices John Wallace, Roberto Rivera-Soto and Helen Hoens will all come up for reappointment during either Corzine's second term or the first term of his Republican opponent.   

Rivera-Soto is the most controversial of the three, having been censured for allegedly invoking his position to get an adversary of his son's in trouble, and having just recently accused of violating a court order relating to the Jayson Williams case.

Merkt said that he would not reappoint Rivera-Soto, a Republican, but not because of any controversy.

Embattled New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto

Roberto Rivera-Soto, an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, is in trouble again: a prosecutor has accused him of violating a court order when he identified an investigator who used a racial slur in the Jayson Williams case.  Bennett Barlyn, an Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor, has filed an ethics complaint against Rivera-Soto.  The prosecutor wants to retry the former basketball star on manslaughter charges. 

The latest complaint could make it difficult for Rivera-Soto to win reappointment to the top court when his term comes up in 2011.

In 2007, the New Jersey Supreme Court censured Rivera-Soto for his role in a 2006 incident involving his son and a teammate on a high school football team.  The court agreed with a judicial conduct panel that Rivera-Soto "engaged in a course of conduct that created a risk that the prestige and power of his judicial office might influence and advance a private matter."  Rivera-Soto still faces a civil suit.

Three of the seven Justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court voted against hearing the case that would require Gov. Jon Corzine to release his personal e-mails to Carla Katz, a labor leader and his former girlfriend.  Justices Jaynee LaVecchia and Helen Hoens, both Republicans, and Justice Barry Albin, a Democrat, denied GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson's petition for an appeal.  Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, and Justices Virginia Long, John Wallace and Roberto Rivera-Soto did not participate. Two Appellate Court Judges, Edwin Stern and Ariel Rodriguez, voted with LaVecchia, Hoens and Albin.  When a Justice is absent, a senior Appellate Court Judge often participates in his or her place.

Robert Meyner, campaigning for Governor in 1953, made seven original appointments to the New Jersey Supreme Court during his eight years in office.

Death and retirements gave Democratic Governor Robert Meyner the opportunity to make eight New Jersey Supreme Court appointments during his eight years as Governor - the most for any Governor under the current State Constitution, including Alfred Driscoll, who made seven appointments in December 1947.

But during the eight years that Meyner's successor, Democrat Richard Hughes, was Governor, he made no Supreme Court appointments.  But Hughes would himself serve as Chief Justice for nearly six years after leaving office.

Not including sitting Judges being renominated, Republicans William Cahill and Christine Todd Whitman nominated five Justices; Brendan Byrne picked four; James E. McGreevey and Jon Corzine named three; and Thomas Kean selected just two new Justices during his eight years as Governor.  James Florio made no Supreme Court appointments during his four years as Governor.

Associate Justice Barry Albin's first seven-year term on the New Jersey Supreme Court is up in September.  And the winner of the 2009 gubernatorial race will have at least four state Supreme Court appointments during his four-year term.

If the next Governor is Jon Corzine, Christopher Christie or Richard Codey, the embattled Roberto Rivera-Soto could be a one-term Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin might be his replacement. There is nothing to indicate that Steve Lonegan would pick Valentin if he’s elected, but it’s a near certainty that Lonegan wouldn’t reappoint Rivera-Soto – or any other non-tenured member of the current top court.

Superior Court Judge Patricia J. Costello removed Dana Rone from her seat on the Newark City Council earlier this month for abusing her office when she interceded in a 2006 traffic stop involving her nephew. PolitickerNJ.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe has an interesting take on the matter: that New Jersey operates under a culture where the powerful and politically connected use their influence to get special treatment every day.

Whether its premium seats for concerts, special license plates and badges for judges and elected officials that send a not-too-subtle don’t-mess-with-me signal to state troopers and local police officers, or even the get out of jail free cards the PBA provides to legislators and political leaders in quantity to give away to friends (maybe even contributors), New Jersey politicos actively seek special treatment on a daily basis. So maybe Tornoe is right when he opines that there is some hypocrisy to the system, although his characterization is entirely generic – there is no confirmation that Costello or her family drives a car with judicial license plates.