The New Jersey Supreme Court issued one opinion from March 27-April 2. As of April 2, the court issued 16 opinions in 2023 — one fewer than this point a year ago. The opinion is below:
- New Jersey v. Higgs, where the court remanded for a new trial in a case where the defendant was found guilty of murder. The defendant raised three issues when appealing the conviction: “(1) whether the trial court erred in not allowing defendant access to Officer Lee’s internal affairs records and not allowing defense counsel to cross-examine Officer Lee regarding his prior on-duty shootings; (2) whether it was error pursuant to N.J.R.E. 701 to allow the lay opinion testimony of Detective Green regarding the image on the dashcam video; and (3) whether defendant’s remote convictions were improperly admitted for impeachment purposes.”
From March 27-April 2, state supreme courts issued 131 opinions nationally. The North Dakota Supreme Court issued the most with 17. State supreme courts in 18 states issued the fewest with zero. Courts where judges are elected have issued 82 opinions, while courts whose members are appointed have issued 49.
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the state’s court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Stuart Rabner. The court issued 55 opinions in 2022 and 2021. Nationally, state supreme courts issued 7,423 opinions in 2022 and 8,320 in 2021. The courts have issued 1,640 opinions in 2023. Courts where judges are elected have issued 904 opinions, while courts whose members are appointed have issued 736. New Jersey is a Democratic trifecta, meaning Democrats control the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature.
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