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....

On Tuesday, September 30, judges on Part G of the Appellate Division will hear oral argument in Esposito v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless. The case follows from a $100 million nationwide class action settlement that had required class members who decided to exclude themselves from the settlement and potentially pursue their own litigation against Verizon to opt out individually, and barred mass opt-outs. However, Murphy Advocates, LLC, a Colorado law firm conducted a marketing campaign to create a mass opt-out that attracted about 11,000 class members who responded to Murphy that they wished to opt out....

In re Tom Malinowski Petition for Nomination for General Election, November 8, 2022, for United States House of Representatives New Jersey Congressional District 7, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2025). This case was an "Appellate Division Oral Argument of the Week," as discussed here. Today, in an opinion by Judge Gilson, the Appellate Division held that New Jersey's "anti-fusion" statute, N.J.S.A. 19:13-8, which prohibits a candidate for public office from appearing on a ballot on more than one party line, does not violate the New Jersey Constitution. This ruling affirms a decision by the Secretary of State that rejected, citing that same statute, a request by the Moderate Party to Tom Malinowski as its nominee on the November 2022 general election ballot for the United States House of Representatives, 7th Congressional District because Malinowski was already on the ballot as the nominee of the Democratic Party....

Filings in the Appellate Division and the Supreme Court in the last few days interfered with blogging about three published opinions that the Appellate Division issued during that time. Here...

State v. Higginbotham, 257 N.J. 260 (2024). Earlier this week, as discussed here, the Supreme Court unanimously invalidated a portion of a regulation due to its overbreadth, which violated the...

State v. Higginbotham, 475 N.J. Super. 205 (App. Div. 2023); In re Appeal of Denial of M.U.'s Application for a Handgun Purchase Permit, 475 N.J. Super. 148 (App. Div. 2023)....

Preparation for a big Appellate Division argument at the end of February limited my ability to post for a period of time. But our courts were busy during that time....

State v. Carter, ___ N.J. ___ (2021); State v. Roman-Rosado, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). These two consolidated appeals, in which Chief Justice Rabner authored a unanimous opinion issued today, dealt...

The Third Circuit issued three published opinions in one day earlier this week. Here are summaries: Dondero v. Lower Milford Tp., ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. 2021). Plaintiff filed a...

That did not take long. As discussed here, Justice LaVecchia announced on March 8 that she would leave the bench in August. Today, one week later, Governor Murphy announced that...