Court Opinion

ID: 9766373
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:43:52.231593+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:21.928907
License: Public Domain

LONG, J.,
dissenting
I would adopt the censure recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct. We repose in that Committee, chaired by a retired Supreme Court Justice of long and rich experience and made up of highly regarded members of the legal community and the public at large, the responsibility of conducting formal hearings in cases such as this and, upon such hearings, the duty to recommend sanction.
*281That is what occurred here. After painstakingly reviewing the evidence, assessing the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be accorded to their testimony, a majority of the Committee concluded that, on an historical discipline continuum, respondent’s violation was less egregious than those that poisoned the well of justice, thus warranting removal, but more problematic than those wholly personal misjudgments that merely justified a reprimand.
Given that the conduct that led to these proceedings took place entirely within the setting of respondent’s private life; that it did not touch on her judicial office; that she is uniformly regarded as a good and fair judge; that after seven years of hard work she has been denied tenure due to the fallout from the very same romantic misadventure; and that she has been subjected to unusual obloquy in the media, I am satisfied that the penalty of censure is appropriate. It will follow her to the end of her judicial life and, combined with continued counseling to uncover the root of the behavior that led her into these circumstances, is adequate and just.
As judges, we come to our task with the cares, the weaknesses, and the emotional needs that attend all human existence. Our duty is to recognize those impediments to proper judicial performance and, as far as is humanly possible, to act outside their influence. By and large our judges meet and exceed that expectation. If, from time to time, one of our number makes an error in judgment in his or her personal life, accepts due punishment, learns from that experience and is permitted to continue as a judicial officer, I do not believe the public’s confidence in the integrity and independence of our institution will be shaken. Indeed it may be strengthened by the notion of the proportionality of the punishment assessed.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.
ORDER
This matter having come before the Court on a presentment of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, and respondent *282having been Ordered to Show Cause why she should not be disciplined, and good cause appearing;
IT IS ORDERED that JUDGE ROSEMARIE R. WILLIAMS is hereby suspended from the performance of her judicial duties, without pay, for three months, effective August 13, 2001, through November 12, 2001; and it is further
ORDERED that respondent shall continue to receive psychological counseling until the further Order of the Court.
For suspension — Chief Justice PORITZ and Justices STEIN, COLEMAN, VERNIERO and ZAZZALI — 5.
For censure — Justice LONG — 1.