Lawmakers confirm Camden County judge to high court

TRENTON Judge Faustino Fernandez-Vina of Camden County won unanimous approval Monday from the New Jersey Senate to serve on the state Supreme Court.

The Superior Court assignment judge is to be sworn in Tuesday and will participate in oral arguments later in the morning, court officials said.

Fernandez-Vina, who the Christie administration said is a Republican, replaces Republican Helen Hoens on the seven-member court, which has two vacancies. In August, Gov. Christie announced that he would not renominate Hoens amid a battle with the Legislature's majority Democrats over the court's partisan balance, and nominated Fernandez-Vina.

In a statement Monday, Christie congratulated Fernandez-Vina, who was born in Cuba, on "his unanimous and historic confirmation to become the only Hispanic member of the court."

"With his extensive experience in both the private and public sector, Judge Fernandez-Vina is eminently qualified to serve on New Jersey's Supreme Court, and has earned bipartisan support from leaders on both sides of the aisle," Christie said. "I am glad the Legislature left politics out of this process and gave Judge Fernandez-Vina the smooth confirmation he deserves."

In a decision ending a decades-long practice of reappointing justices to the court, Christie refused in 2010 to reappoint John Wallace, a Democrat and the only African American on the court.

Since then, the Senate has rejected two of Christie's nominees to the court, which traditionally had been split, 4-3, between Democrats and Republicans. Two nominees have been awaiting a hearing for a year: Robert Hanna, president of the Board of Public Utilities, and Superior Court Judge David Bauman of Monmouth County.

Democrats had previously confirmed Fernandez-Vina twice - in 2004 and again for a tenured position in 2011 - and Christie said in August there was no reason not to approve him this time.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Fernandez-Vina last month after pressing the judge for his stances on hot-button issues - including abortion and same-sex marriage - and opinions on past court cases. Fernandez-Vina would not answer.

Sen. Ray Lesniak (D., Union), a member of the panel, said Monday that Fernandez-Vina had "hid behind a judicial ethics rule that does not exist" in refusing to discuss prior cases during the hearing. Still, speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, he said he would back the judge "because he gave a very, very strong opinion on the value of precedent."

Lesniak said same-sex marriage - recently ruled legal by a trial court and bolstered by a state Supreme Court decision denying the state's request for a stay - "is not likely to be overturned" under Fernandez-Vina.

Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R., Passaic) objected to Lesniak's comments. "He's amazingly qualified," O'Toole said of Fernandez-Vina, noting that other judges had responded similarly before the committee. "He doesn't deserve to have an asterisk next to his name."

Besides being the only Hispanic justice, Fernandez-Vina, of Barrington, is the only South Jersey representative on the court. A graduate of Rutgers-Camden Law School, he worked as a trial lawyer for 22 years before becoming a judge in 2004.

A ruling by Fernandez-Vina last year helped pave the way for the controversial new Camden County police force, ruling against activists who wanted to put a ballot question before voters about whether to disband the city police force. An appellate panel later set aside that decision and sent it back to the trial court.

He also upheld Camden's business curfew ordinance, adopted in 2011 in an effort to curb crime. A state appellate court recently affirmed his ruling.