An appearance before New Jersey's Appellate Division could take longer than before, as the ranks of judges on the state's intermediate court grows thinner, some court observers said.

Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced plans this week to temporarily assign three Appellate Division judges—Douglas Fasciale, Jack Sabatino and Clarkson Fisher Jr.—to the short-handed Supreme Court. But the Appellate Division began shrinking long before the current shortage of judges got started.