Steven Malanga at the City Journal has this great story on how the State Supreme Court of New Jersey is one of the driving forces to ruin this once great state.
The article goes through the creation of the Court following the 1947 NJ State Constitution, and how it’s early decision in Winberry v. Salisbury gave it extreme powers in the state by eliminating any interference from the Legislature…
This gave the Court the power not only to force poorly designed education schemes on the state following the Abbot decision (creating Abbot districts to “equalize” educational spending), but also interference in the operations of municipalities and their zoning policies in the Mount Laurel decision (to “equalize” housing opportunities in towns and cities). Both decisions have been a pox on the state’s ability to manage it’s finances, and for towns and cities to determine their population/resident needs.
Beyond that: the State Supreme Court also found it fit to bypass the state Constitution several times, most recently being the Forrester-Toricelli Senate Election in 2002. The State Court essentially side-stepped the Constitution, and allowed the Democrats to replace Toricelli (following a scandal) with Frank Lautenberg… Ugh.
It’s a good read, head on over and check it out!