Governor Chris Christie nominated Morris County resident Anne Murray Patterson to become an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
In selecting Patterson, Governor Christie decided not to re-appoint Associate Justice John E. Wallace, Jr., whose seven-year initial appointment expires on May 20. Under the New Jersey Constitution, the power and authority to appoint and re-appoint justices of the Supreme Court rests solely with the Governor, with the advice and consent of the state Senate, which is responsible for considering nominees on their merits.
“I wish to thank and commend Justice Wallace for his seven years of dedicated service on the Supreme Court,” said Governor Christie. “Before and since becoming Governor, I was unambiguous in my intention to bring balance and change to the Supreme Court. My selection today is not a commentary on Justice Wallace. It is a fulfillment of my promise to turn the Court away from its history of using legal precedent to set social and tax policies in our state – a role which belongs squarely with the Legislative and Executive branches of state government.”
Patterson, 51, is a partner with the law firm Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti, LLP, of Morristown. There she practices primarily in the areas of product liability and commercial litigation in state and federal courts, class actions involving product liability and pharmaceutical pricing, intellectual property litigation, restrictive covenant litigation, closely held corporation litigation and appeals.
