Colleen Murphy

“The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade is both wrong as a matter of law and profoundly harmful to the rights and dignity of millions of people,” Stephanie Toti, Executive Director of the Lawyering Project said. “But by its own terms, it does not extend to medically indicated abortions, which continue to be constitutionally protected.

This is a risk-averse, change-averse profession that is entirely based on past precedent, AI panelist and ALM chief legal strategist Patrick Fuller said. Change does not necessarily happen quickly in this profession, but I do think that the fear cycle right now is really high. It is good to be on guard, and it is good to be pragmatic about it and to plan for it, but I caution against getting too afraid of too much change happening quickly.

Quite frankly, normally, I would be in favor of giving myself and other members of the Senate more power. Why wouldn't I? But on this issue, it is such an important and long-lasting issue for our court system that we need to pause it, Sen. Michael L. Testa Jr., R-Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland, said during a panel discussion at the NJSBA annual conference.

The Appellate Division and the selection process both work well, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said during his state of the judiciary address. There does not appear to be a problem that needs fixing, let alone a problem so serious that it requires us to ask the citizens of New Jersey to amend the state constitution.

That pressure continues today while vacancies remain high, while those in power have declared the crisis is over, while simultaneously inventing a new judicial crisis. Last week, the association learned that the senate is considering a constitutional amendment that would shift control of Appellate Division to the governor and the senate, William H. Mergner Jr., co-managing partner at Leary, Bride, Mergner & Bongiovanni, said after being sworn in as NJSBA president.

He is exactly the type of person that we all want to seek out to be a Superior Court judge in any of our counties, Sen. Declan J. O'Scanlon Jr. said. He is a deliberative, dynamic thinker who is very well respected by all of the attorneys in Monmouth County, except maybe a few that he has defeated in court.