Escándalo With New Jersey’s Latino Supreme Court Justice

It’s a really long story, but here goes. The escándalo began in 2007 when New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto improperly used his position to intercede in a matter at his son’s high school. Earlier this year it got worse and Rivera-Soto has been abstaining from ruling on cases. As New Jersey’s Star-Ledger reports:

“It’s the latest move in a chain reaction that began in May, when Gov. Chris Christie announced he would not reappoint Justice John Wallace Jr. and nominated Morristown lawyer Anne Patterson. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has refused to consider her nomination.To fill Wallace’s seat, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner appointed a temporary justice. But Rivera-Soto says that appointment was unnecessary, making the court’s makeup unconstitutional and leading him to abstain for voting on cases.”

Seems like some people don’t think too highly of Rivera-Soto, a Republican, anyway, but in all likelihood he’ll be off the Supreme Court soon. I don’t know enough about New Jersey politics to make an educated analysis of all of this, but it sounds like Rivera-Soto hedged his bets politically, chose wrong, and is now paying the consequences.