Nine new Superior Court judges will join the bench after their unanimous confirmation by the State Senate today, further chipping away at the mountain of vacancies that has hobbled New Jersey’s judiciary.
Three of those new judges – Scott Arnette, Christie Bevacqua, and Jeffrey Brown – were just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning.
The committee previously cleared the other six last week: Amy Lefkowitz, Nicholas Ostuni, Marc Ramundo, Anthony Suarez, Demetrica Todd-Ruiz, and Dalya Youssef. Among other things, Suarez’s confirmation means that Ridgefield will get its first new mayor since 2004.
The Senate also confirmed one new judge of the Tax Court, four new Administrative Law Judges, and three new Workers’ Compensation Judges; the Tax Court is part of the state judiciary, but neither of the other two courts are.
Though Todd-Ruiz and Brown had each waited more than six months to finally join the bench, every other Superior Court judge confirmed today was nominated in the last few months. That quick confirmation speed reflects the increased sense of urgency surrounding judicial nominations since February, when Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner suspended civil and matrimonial trials in six counties due to vacancies.
Another 19 Superior Court nominees have been submitted to the Senate by Gov. Phil Murphy but have yet to come up in the Senate Judiciary Committee. As the committee continues hearing nominees – and as Murphy continues nominating more of them – the vacancy rate, which has hovered between 60 and 70 empty seats, could finally drop back to a more manageable level.
Judicial nomination tracker 3:20