Roberto Rivera-Soto

Several public officials today expressed surprise at the complaint filed against Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, but legal insiders for years have considered the McGreevey-appointee has one of the Judiciary’s most narcissistic jurists. Even prior to his confirmation to the bench, his former adversaries were quoted in an April 2004 Star-Ledger profile describing him as “pompous,” “arrogant and abrasive,” and questioned whether he had the temperament for the post.

The Inside Edge's favorite Do you know who I am? story involved then-Passaic County Freeholder (now Deputy Commissioner of Labor) Lois Cuccinello. 

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New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, in a disciplinary opinion he wrote on Superior Court Judge (and Mercer County Executive) Wilbur Mathesius last fall, when the court voted to suspend Mathesius:

“Judge Mathesius presents an almost indecipherable riddle. On the one side, we have been presented the portrait of a ... long-time public servant who is learned in his craft, willing to assist his colleagues, and generous with his time and knowledge. On the other side, however, we have been presented indisputable proof of repeated and unremorseful instances of petulance, sarcasm, anger, and arrogance; these have no place in the exercise of judicial duties. . . .The overwhelming majority of New Jersey judges hold judicial office as a cherished privilege, and well and truly serve for decades without a blemish.”

If Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto is disciplined for using the power of his judicial post to influence the private interests of his family, will he be held to the same standards of conduct that forced Zulima Farber to resign as Attorney General of New Jersey last summer?  Rivera-Soto, who does not come up for reappointment until 2011, is accused of improper involvement in a "head-butting" dispute  involving his son and another football player during a practice touch football game last fall.  Farber was forced out of office after accusations that she used her influence in a traffic incident involving her live-in boyfriend.

Roberto Rivera-Soto, an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, faces disciplinary action for allegedly using his post to influence a Camden County Superior Court Judge presiding over a dispute involving his son's high school football team. Rivera-Soto is accused of using or allowing "the power and prestige of his office as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to influence or advance the private interests of his family and his son."

According to a complaint, the Justice's son, playing touch football with Haddonfield Township High School classmates last September, was involved in a "head-butting" incident that may or may not have been intentional. Rivera-Soto, upset with the school's failure to discipline the other student involved -- and after threatening to involve the State Police -- called the local Police Chief's cell phone to demand an investigation. The Justice eventually filed a criminal complaint against his son's teammate.