When Justice Barry Albin's tenure came to a close on July 6, with him having reached the judiciary's mandatory retirement age of 70, it left the New Jersey Supreme Court to operate with a record level of vacancies.

That's in addition to the number of vacancies in New Jersey's trial courts.

After two decades of serving on New Jersey's highest court, Albin returned to private practice at Lowenstein Sandler, where he will chair the firm's newly formed appellate practice from the firm's Roseland office.

His departure leaves only four permanent justices on the state's Supreme Court—Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justices Anne M. Patterson, Lee A. Solomon, and Fabiana Pierre-Louis. Rabner has temporarily assigned a fifth member of the court, Judge Jose L. Fuentes of the Appellate Division.

Rabner warned of this situation earlier in the year.

"Ask any students of the Constitutional Convention of 1947, and they will tell you that is not what the Framers of the modern Constitution envisioned," said Rabner in his comments at the New Jersey State Bar Association convention on May 20. "Nowhere in the debates about the Judicial Branch did they contemplate a vacancy level of more than 40% on the state's highest court."

"I urge the legislative and executive branches to come together to resolve the problem before it gets even more challenging," added Rabner.

"Chief Justice Rabner has maintained the Court's integral role in New Jersey and its continued commitment to justice even in light of recent retirements," Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, D-Middlesex, said via a spokesperson. "I am confident the governor and Senate will fulfill the constitutional obligation to nominate and confirm the most qualified associate justices in the near future."

Calls to Senate President Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Union, and Judiciary Committee Chair Brian Stack, D-Hudson, went unreturned.

'Nothing Is Happening'?

Jeralyn Lawrence, president of the NJSBA, said in a recent interview: "We are operating with historic vacancies of 43% in the crown jewel of the New Jersey judiciary. And from all outward appearances, nothing is happening."

"Justice Albin retired two weeks ago. How can it be July 20 and there is not a judiciary meeting scheduled?" she said during an interview conducted on that date.

"The outlook looks quite bleak," added Lawrence, a partner at Lawrence Law in Watchung.

In addition to Albin's departure, three additional Supreme Court justices have recently retired—Justices Jaynee LaVecchia, Faustino J. Fernandez-Vina and Walter F. Timpone. Timpone retired in 2020. Fernandez-Vina reached the mandatory retirement earlier this year and headed to Parker McCay. LaVecchia initially announced her retirement in early 2021 but delayed her departure until the end of that year. In January 2022, she joined McCarter & English's business litigation group as a partner.

Fuentes, of the Appellate Division, has served on the court on a temporary basis since February, pending confirmation of a replacement for LaVecchia. Gov. Phil Murphy has nominated Rachel Wainer Apter, head of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and former law clerk to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Apter's nomination has stalled due to Bergen County Republican state Sen. Holly Schepisi's refusal to give her consent to the nomination through senatorial courtesy.

"The burden should not be on [Chief] Justice Rabner to fill vacancies; that should be filled by Gov. Murphy and the Legislature," said Lawrence.

"What we have been trying to drive home is that this impacts you a great deal," Lawrence said. "If it doesn't impact you today, it will tomorrow, or it will affect your friends and your family."