The Supreme Court began the 2026-27 Term by granting certification in four appeals. Three are civil matters and the fourth, designated A-1, is a criminal case....

During August, while this blog was inactive, the Supreme Court had its second-busiest month of the Term that ends today. The Court issued ten decisions, a figure exceeded only by the twelve rulings handed down in July. To catch up, this post will consist of "lightning round" summaries, at most a few sentences each, about those decisions. The plan is for this blog's more traditional detailed analyses to return in the new Term....

In addition to issuing a slew of opinions in the recent period (to be the subject of another catch-up post), the Supreme Court granted review in five appeals. All involved grants of certification....

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted review in four new appeals. Two of those cases, both criminal matters, are before the Court on leave to appeal. The other two, each one of them a civil case, came to the Court on grants of certification....

Reed v. Muoio, ___ N.J. ___ (2026). As Justice Noriega said in his unanimous opinion in this appeal, the case centered on a 1995 amendment to the New Jersey Constitution, N.J. Const. art. VIII, § 2, ¶ 5), that "prohibit[ed] any law, rule, or regulation that was determined to be an unfunded mandate." The amendment directed the Legislature to establish the Council on Unfunded Mandates ("the Council") to resolve whether a statute, rule, or regulation was an unfunded mandate. The issue in this case was whether the Council exceeded its powers....

New Jersey's current Constitution was adopted in 1947. Less well-known, however, is that New Jersey's first Constitution was adopted in 1776, on July 2 of that year. (In between, New Jersey adopted a new Constitution in 1844, which gets little attention these days). Thus, as we near the celebration of 250 years since the Declaration of Independence on July 4, today is also a day to celebrate....

Last Friday was Juneteenth, and courts were closed, making it a short week. During that week, there were no Supreme Court opinions issued, but the Appellate Division published decisions in two matters, one of which encompassed fourteen cases. Here are summaries:...

The Supreme Court announced that it has granted certification in five new appeals. Two of those are from published opinions of the Appellate Division, while the other three bring up unpublished rulings by that court....

In 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S. 565 (2014). There, the Court held, by a 5-4 vote, that opening a monthly town board meeting with a prayer delivered by a local clergy member did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 1981, the Supreme Court of New Jersey had issued a unanimous decision, Marsa v. Wernik, 86 N.J. 232 (1981), holding that the Borough of Metuchen's practice of opening its Borough Council meetings with an invocation selected and delivered by a council member likewise did not violate the Establishment Clause. That ruling foreshadowed, to some extent, that of Greece. The date of the Marsa decision was June 8, 1981, 45 years ago today....

Last week saw two published Appellate Division decisions. One was authored by Judge Mawla and the other by Judge D'Almeida....