NJ High Court Confirms Rachel Wainer Apter

By Josh Lancman ‘24
    After a year and a half in nomination limbo, Justice Rachel Wainer Apter has been sworn in to the New Jersey State Supreme Court on October 21, after passing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 13th in an 8-3 vote. She was confirmed four days later by the Senate in a 23-14 vote, almost entirely along party lines. 

Wainer Apter, a Democrat and North Jersey native who attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and earned her juris doctorate at Harvard Law School, has previously clerked for famed Judges Jed Rakoff, Robert Katzmann and, in particular, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. In a speech at her 2021 nomination, Wainer Apter attributed her “belief in the equality and dignity of all people” and her belief in “the importance of the law not simply as a subject to be debated, but as something that profoundly impacts the lives of individual people each day,” to her time working under the famed Supreme Court Justice. 
    Justice Wainer Apter is the sister-in-law of GOA Upper School Principal Dr. Apter.
    As a descendant of Eastern-European Jews who “came to the United States in search of freedom,” Wainer Apter stated she is “tremendously impacted by learning about the Holocaust,” commenting in 2021 of her “strong sense of how fortunate [she is] to live in this time and place.” Her identity and ancestry have also “impressed upon [her] the horrors that can come from dehumanization.” 
“I therefore always knew I wanted to help people, and in law school I realized that meant civil rights law: the idea that all people are entitled to equal justice under the law, and to be treated with equal dignity and equal respect,” she said.
“I am pleased to see Rachel Wainer Apter receive an opportunity for an up or down vote to fill one of the empty seats on the NJ Supreme Court,” said social studies and government teacher Mr. Ober. “She is eminently qualified,” he said, adding that “it is appalling that it has taken so long to fill even one of the three absences.
    Before her nomination, Wainer Apter worked at the American Civil Liberties Union and for former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, during which time she visited GOA in December 2019. Most famously, Wainer Apter traveled to Texas on behalf of the State of New Jersey to “defend DACA,” exercising her commitment to “focus [not] only on laws and systems… [but also on] the individual lives that laws and systems are meant to serve.”
    “The New Jersey Supreme Court has a proud history of recognizing the equal dignity of every human being and acknowledging how the law impacts real people each day,” Wainer Apter said at her nomination in 2021. “Justice Ginsburg shared that legacy. I hope to be able to live up to that promise.”   
    Wainer Apter was originally nominated for the State Supreme Court by NJ Governor Phil Murphy on March 15, 2021, a full year-and-a-half before she was sworn in, having been consistently blocked from committee hearings by State Senator Holly Schepisi (R-River Edge). According to the State Senate’s rule of senatorial courtesy, senators from a nominee’s home county can block a justice’s nomination from entering committee almost indefinitely. Senator Schepisi, who represents Wainer Apter’s home in Bergen County, invoked this unwritten rule for over a year, ostensibly to preserve the bipartisan aspects of New Jersey’s highest court. 
“The unwritten practice of senatorial courtesy is a lingering relic of a past era,” said Mr. Ober. “It serves no democratic purpose but only facilitates backroom deals and legitimizes political blackmailing. Elections have consequences and those that win elections are entitled to the powers granted in the NJ Constitution,” he added. “Senatorial courtesy undermines that expression of popular will.”
    “I think it has taken long enough for Justice Wainer Apter to be sworn in,” commented senior Boaz Fox. “I am excited to see what the State Supreme Court will do with a court that [better] represents its people.”
    After her long wait for confirmation, Wainer Apter’s nomination was eventually advanced to the Senate Judiciary Committee with Governor Murphy’s personal intervention: a deal with Senator Schepisi to also nominate a Republican justice, Judge Douglas M. Fasciale. This would maintain the seven member court’s partisan balance, ending Schepisi’s concerns of an overly Democratic bench. 
    “Blocking or stalling the nominations of clearly qualified appointees such as Judge Wainer Apter based merely on partisan politics is a gross dereliction of duty to the people by such members of the New Jersey Senate,” criticized social studies teacher Mr. Stern. “When a candidate is so clearly qualified for the job, it does not matter if they disagree with your personal politics.”
“It was a pleasure to watch my sister-in-law answer questions about her views on the role of a State Supreme Court Justice,” Dr. Apter said of Wainer Apter’s October 13 nomination hearing. “Having known Rachel for over 2 decades, it was not surprising to see her devotion to the law, and although some of the questions from one side of the aisle sounded pointed and sometimes accusatory, the system of checks and balances is an important feature of our democracy.” 
Dr. Apter continued, stating that, “Rachel answered each question by stressing the importance of the principle of separation of powers and reinforcing her ideals. I am incredibly proud of her and truly believe the state and people of New Jersey will benefit from her time on the bench."