RoseAnn Salanitri

A prominent Tea Party leader in northern New Jersey, who has a case now pending before the State Supreme Court, supports Governor Chris Christie's decision not to reappoint Justice John E. Wallace, and applauds him for seeking "to restore judicial integrity to the court."

RoseAnn Salanitri, head of RecallNJ, made her remarks in an interview with this Examiner, shortly after all the members of the Judicial Advisory Panel resigned en masse in protest to the governor's decision. In an open letter to Christie, the panel said that they and the governor could not agree on how he approached his "appointive responsibilities."

Salanitri highlighted the case that her own group now has pending before the court: their desire to mount a petition drive to recall Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) from office.

The matter before the court will decide if this is still a government for the people, by the people, and of the people, as a representative government is designed or are senators sovereigns who are not accountable to the people? The briefs submitted on behalf of Recall NJ, as well as the amici briefs submitted to the court, all argue that recall is constitutional at all levels and specifically is part of our First Amendment Right to petition and to exercise our right to free political speech.

To show the bearing of Christie's motivation to reshape the Court (a thing he promised to do in his campaign) on her own case, Salanitri further observed:

If the court's decision in this matter favors Menendez and attempts to stop the recall, it will justify Governor Christie's motivation to bring the courts back from political ideologues to constitutional defenders. An unforavorable decision will also insult the citizens of NJ who voted 76.2% to amend the NJ Constitution to specifically include recall. We are all watching this case, as it will determine not only whether or not the recall can move forward at this point, but it will also be a clear indication of whether or not the courts respect our NJ Constitution and the right of NJ citizens and NJ legislatures to amend that Constitution.

Salanitri and two others had filed a recall notice last September. Then-Secretary of State Nina Wells first stalled the process, and then declared (after RecallNJ sued and then moved for summary judgment) that no petition for the recall of a US Senator could ever be acceptable because that would violate the Supremacy clause in Article VI of the US Constitution. Her theory: what the US Constitution did not empower the States to do, in the matter of removing a Senator from office, no State could do.

The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court, of course, said that this could not matter unless and until a recall election were actually held and Menendez lost it. Menendez, not satisfied with that, petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear the matter. Oral arguments took place on May 25, before six Justices and an empty chair--empty because Justice Wallace, having failed of reappointment, had left the Court, and Chief Justice Rabner had not named a replacement.

Richard T. Luzzi, co-counsel for RecallNJ, has previously stated that the most likely, if not the only, candidate for a temporary replacement was Appellate Division Presiding Judge Edwin Stern, and he could scarcely hear a matter that he himself had decided. Luzzi declined further comment. Andrew L. Schlafly, the lead counsel, declined any comment, saying that he could not properly comment on the composition of a court hearing a pending case that he was litigating.

In related news, Alfred P. Doblin of The Record (Hackensack) criticized Christie's decision but also criticized the panel for "[taking] their marbles, [leaving] the playground and [going] home."

Every time the governor goes too far, someone else takes a step further in the wrong direction. Christie has been either ridiculously lucky or more astute an observer of the movers and shapers of New Jersey than even his supporters would have thought.

Doblin missed one other consequence of the panel's action: that Christie now has an opportunity to remake that panel at a stroke, one year earlier than he otherwise could have.

This article is part of the New Jersey Supreme Court series and the Robert Menendez series.

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