The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us in New Jersey, as in all the other American states and countries around the world, in ways we could not have imagined just months ago. This is certainly true with our legal system. Closed courthouses and law offices, suspended and then remote jury trials, online law school classes and exams, postponed law school graduations and bar exams, disrupted hiring, and a host of other effects on the legal processes of our state have, are and will continue to be felt. There will be impacts far into the future, many of which we cannot predict.

In addition, our courts, legislature, and executive branch are being called on to confront unprecedented matters of our substantive law, including state constitutional law. Can the Governor issue and enforce stay-at-home orders, issue and enforce orders closing businesses (as well as grant exemptions) and places of worship and schools, mandate the wearing of masks, authorize tenants to pay their rent with security deposits and suspend evictions and mortgage foreclosures? Can local governments enact their own policies concerning the pandemic? Can employers be held liable for failure to provide adequate protections for their workers, assuming Congress does not immunize them?