TRENTON — After a more than year-long standoff, the state Senate voted to approve the nomination of Anne Patterson to the state Supreme Court. Voting just before 10 p.m., the Senate finally gave approval to a nomination Gov. Chris Christie made last year when he announced he would not reappoint former Justice John Wallace. The decision to force out...
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Gov. Chris Christie presents Anne Patterson in this file photo, his nominee to replace Justice John Wallace on the New Jersey Supreme Court.TRENTON — After a more than year-long standoff, the state Senate voted to approve the nomination of Anne Patterson to the state Supreme Court.
Voting just before 10 p.m., the Senate finally gave approval to a nomination Gov. Chris Christie made last year when he announced he would not reappoint former Justice John Wallace.
The decision to force out Wallace, also from Gloucester County, infuriated supporters and Democratic lawmakers. They argued that Christie ignored a 63-year-old tradition by refusing to reappoint a sitting justice, and that he sacrificed the court's only black justice to reconfigure the bench with judges who more closely share his views.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he wouldn't give Patterson a hearing until the term Wallace would have held expired.
A year later and after a shifting of seats, which had Patterson nominated for a seat currently held by Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto and Christie agreeing to let Wallace's seat remain empty until next year, Patterson finally got a hearing.
She won't take the bench until September, when Rivera-Soto will vacate his seat.
Previous coverage:
• N.J. Senate Judiciary Committee approves Anne Patterson for state Supreme Court
