Court Opinion

ID: 9629477
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:43:25.1725+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:19.985654
License: Public Domain

O’HERN, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
This case is not about garbage. This case is about the values of federalism. Were I a member of the United States Supreme Court, I might well have voted differently from the majority in California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 108 S.Ct. 1625, 100 *226L.Ed.2d 30 (1988). Justice Clifford’s painstaking analysis of the issues is quite persuasive and it convincingly demonstrates that the United States Supreme Court may have drawn the line a bit too far in that case.
But that is not the real issue in this case. The issue is the basis on which we shall depart from Supreme Court precedent in interpreting counterpart guarantees of our Constitution. On that score, I quite agree with Justice Garibaldi that this case falls convincingly short of standards that the Court has been developing. See State v. Novembrino, 105 N.J. 95, 519 A.2d 820 (1987) (New Jersey has different prosecutorial policy and standards governing issuance of judicial search warrants); State v. Hunt, 91 N.J. 338, 450 A.2d 952 (1982) (New Jersey has broadened protections regarding confidentiality of telephone conversations).
For me, it is not enough to say that because we disagree with a majority opinion of the Supreme Court, we should invoke our State Constitution to achieve a contrary result. It sounds plausible, but one of the unanticipated consequences of that supposedly benign doctrine of state-constitutional rights is an inevitable shadowing of the moral authority of the United States Supreme Court. Throughout our history, we have maintained a resolute trust in that Court as the guardian of our liberties.
The most distinct aspect of our free society under law is that all acts of government are subject to judicial review. Whether we have agreed with the Supreme Court or not, we have cherished most its right to make those judgments. In no other society does the principle of judicial review have the moral authority that it has here. Where else would a court order its nation’s head of State to submit to the regular processes of law? See United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974). Where else would a court order a president during wartime to divest himself of steel mills? See Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 72 *227S.Ct. 868, 96 L.Ed. 1153 (1952). Where else would a court order a governor to stand aside despite that governor’s own understanding of constitutional doctrine? See Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 78 S.Ct. 1401, 3 L.Ed.2d 5 (1958).
Of course the Supreme Court has blinked on occasion in its long history. Not many can be proud today of the way Japanese Americans were treated during World War II. See Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 65 S.Ct. 193, 89 L.Ed. 194 (1944). There are such occasions in our history when only enormous reservoirs of public trust would have enabled the Court to sail against the winds of popular disapproval.
The great moral disasters of the twentieth century in Germany, Russia, Cambodia, and Argentina all occurred in societies in which there was no genuine rule of law, no appeal of last resort, no guarantee of liberties. Trials, if there were any, were but propaganda tools of the State.
Respect for law flows from a belief in its objectivity. To the extent possible, we ought not personalize constitutional doctrine. When we do otherwise, we vindicate the worst fears of the critics of judicial activism. The fourth amendment is the fourth amendment. It ought not mean one thing in Trenton and another across the Delaware River in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
In truth, the constitutional vision that we have shared as a people is not one of state-constitutional guarantees of freedom. Whether God-given or the result of social compact, the content of our freedom under law is drawn from the Bill of Rights. I rather doubt that most Americans think otherwise. One need only recall that it was the Supreme Court, not state courts, that guaranteed freedom of religion, see Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L.Ed. 1042 (1923); the right to counsel, see Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932); freedom of speech, see Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, 51 S.Ct. 625, 75 L.Ed. 1357 (1931); or that one person would have one vote, see Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, *22882 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). For good or ill, this unique American vision of freedom has been nurtured by the United States Supreme Court. There may come a time when the Supreme Court might abdicate its responsibility and we would have to act, but this is surely not it. Where that Court has drawn the line in this case does not significantly endanger our freedoms. I would abide by its judgment. If there is a New Jersey view on this issue, the Legislature can vindicate it in time.
We do not cease being judges when we accept doctrines with which we disagree. After all, every week and every day we apply precedents against which we may have voted. It may be that a reasoned debate will produce the intended change in doctrine. In the Sixties this Court was particularly outspoken in its criticism of where the Supreme Court drew the line on the Bill of Rights. See State v. Forcella, 52 N.J. 263, 245 A.2d 181 (1968), rev’d in part, Funicello v. New Jersey, 403 U.S. 948, 91 S.Ct. 2278, 29 L.Ed.2d 859 (1971). Some lines were redrawn. This line may be redrawn. For now, the Supreme Court has drawn a line as it must often do. Whether it be at a phone booth, on an open field, or in a school locker, the lines drawn will always require some measure of discretion.
Like most Americans, I don’t like people snooping around in my garbage and I doubt that most police officers will want to do that. But we certainly need more reason than this to discard the vision of one nation under law.
The Appellate Division made a measured disposition of the issues that fairly took into account the state and federal interests. It would have recognized a limited privacy interest in discarded materials and balanced that with a requirement for reasonably based police action. That disposition would serve our state needs. I would affirm both of its dispositions.