This story was originally published by NJ Monitor and is being republished here with permission.
A multi-county court jurisdiction that saw civil and divorce trials paused for about a year because of judicial vacancies faces the risk of a similar stoppage, a top court administrator told lawmakers Monday.
The warning from Judge Michael Blee, the courts’ acting administrative director, comes as bench vacancies edge upward following a confirmation blitz at the start of 2024. There are now 49 judicial vacancies statewide, nearly 20 more than court officials say the system can handle.
Blee warned that while vacancies impose additional stresses on judges, the greater peril is for those awaiting their time in court.
“Imagine your family members are going through that process, or perhaps yourself. There’s children involved. There is no closure. Perhaps someone is in another relationship and wants to start their new life. They sit and languish,” Blee told the Assembly Budget Committee Monday.
The jurisdiction in question, called Vicinage 13, covers Hunterdon, Somerset, and Warren counties. New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner ordered a halt to civil and divorce trials there in February 2023 because there were not enough judges to hear them, an order he lifted in March 2024.
Only two of the state’s 49 judicial vacancies are in Vicinage 13, though Kevin Shanahan, the vicinage’s assignment judge, told lawmakers he expects at least one additional vacancy there by the start of May, with the possibility of a second judge departing early.
Shanahan warned that even a small number of vacancies could cause severe disruptions in his jurisdiction.
“In a vicinage like mine — three counties with a relatively small number of assigned judges — a vacancy in Vicinage 13 is probably the equivalent of two-and-a-half vacancies in a larger county,” Shanahan told the panel.
The Assembly, which is the first chamber to take budget testimony from the judiciary this year, plays no formal role in filling judicial vacancies. Candidates for judgeships are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
The judges’ warnings, now delivered to lawmakers on an annual basis, are their latest call for legislators to staff up the courts. Judiciary officials have said the courts can operate sustainably with up to 30 vacancies. Blee on Monday said the courts could “could live with 25” vacancies.
Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) last March declared the state’s yearslong judicial vacancy crisis was at an end after numerous confirmations in early 2024 brought judicial vacancies down from 58 at the start of that year to 39.
But the pace of confirmations has slowed significantly in the intervening months. Senators confirmed two dozen judges between May 20, 2024, and the Senate’s most recent voting session on March 24. They confirmed the same number of judges between Jan. 1 and April 9 of last year.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which must advance judicial nominations before they come to a vote before the full Senate, is not scheduled to meet in April, which legislators typically devote to budget hearings.
At least four judges are anticipated to leave their posts in May, a court spokesperson told the New Jersey Monitor.
The growing number of vacancies could waylay an effort to bring the judiciary’s backlog down to prepandemic levels.
Pandemic disruptions and judicial vacancies catapulted the number of backlogged cases to 97,028 in the fall of 2021. The courts have made significant progress in reducing the backlog, which fell to 41,433 in February, according to a courts website.
“We have staff, judges constantly looking at our cases constantly trying to determine oldest to youngest, prioritizing, trying to move things,” Blee said. “It’s a difficult task, but it’s something — as I mentioned: Justice delayed is justice denied.”
The court marks a case as backlogged if the matter has not been heard within a period of time set by the judiciary. The length of that period varies depending on the type of case.
