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Twenty-one others named to Superior Court bench
BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
As the Dog Days of Summer saunter into the state capital, there is still plenty of activity within the court system where three Superior Court judges Thursday were appointed to Appellate Court seats and 21 lawyers have been approved as new judges.
Appointed to the Appellate Court by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner were judges Marianne Espinosa, who sits in Elizabeth, Jonathan N. Harris, who sits in Hackensack and Victor Ashrafi, who sits in Somerville. They will assume their new roles on Aug. 1.
In the past six weeks, the Senate Judiciary Committee and full upper house have filled 21 of 38 Superior Court vacancies, leaving the 17 vacancies that exist the fewest since the Whitman administration.
"Just a few weeks ago, there were 38 vacancies on the Superior Court bench," said Sen. Sarlo (D-Bergen), the Judiciary Committee chairman. "Thanks to the hard work of committee members from both sides of the aisle, the endless behind-the-scenes work by committee staff and the thorough preparation by the candidates themselves, we will have whittled that number down to 17 after the nominees, who have since been confirmed by the full Senate, are sworn in."Sarlo noted his panel worked quickly to ensure the release of Associate Justice Barry Albin's reappointment to a tenured position on the Supreme Court. Albin was easily confirmed by the Senate last week.
"Justice Albin met with committee members at their legislative district offices to answer any and all questions they had about his reappointment," Sarlo said. "The committee then interviewed the justice at a public hearing on June 22, during which he was vigorously questioned for more than four hours. This is the essence of the advice and consent process.
Since January, the committee has confirmed 32 new Superior Court judges and approved 16 reappointments, 3 new workers' compensation judges and 5 re-appointments; 5 new administrative law judges, and 5 reappointments.
As Appellate Court judges, Espinosa, Harris and Ashrafi will hear appeals from decisions of the Superior and Tax court and state administrative agencies. The Appellate Court decides approximately 7,000 appeals and 7,500 motions annually.
Espinosa was appointed to the Superior Court by Gov. Richard Codey and took her oath of office on July 22, 2005. She has served two separate terms in Superior Court, most recently in the civil and criminal divisions in Elizabeth. She was assigned temporarily to the Appellate Court from March until May. In a previous term she served in the civil, criminal and family divisions in Morris County.
Espinosa, a Summit resident, has two daughters.
Harris was nominated by Gov. Thomas H. Kean in 1989 and has sat in the civil, criminal and family divisions in Hackensack. Harris was reappointed in 1996 by Gov. Christie Whitman. In 2005, he was designated one of four judges in the state to hear mass class action cases.
Harris lives in Upper Saddle River with his wife Karen. The couple has two children.
Ashrafi served in the civil, criminal and family divisions in Somerville and was assigned temporarily to the Appellate Court from February to May. He was appointed to the bench in 1995 by Whitman and was reappointed by Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2002.
Ashrafi was 8 years old when he immigrated to the United States from Iran with his family 50 years ago. He was raised in Dunellen lives in Basking Ridge with his wife Ginny. The couple has four children.
Sarlo said the Judiciary Committee is also moving on filling vacancies on county tax boards. He said many boards are short-handed and struggling to deal with the increasing number of tax appeals that have been brought during the economic downturn.
The governor's office submitted 87 nominations to various tax boards, and to date, 35 have been confirmed, Sarlo said. Another 23 are ready for review by the committee or are awaiting confirmation by the Senate. The remaining 31 are in the process of getting sign-off from their senators or completing their questionnaires for the committee.
