Robert N. Wilentz
Robert Nathan Wilentz was the son of David T. Wilentz, former Attorney General of New Jersey and prosecutor of the Lindbergh trials. Born in 1927 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Wilentz was valedictorian of his high school class; served in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1946; graduated from Harvard University in 1949; and earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1952. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1965 to 1969, but chose not to seek a third term, due to "conflict of interest" legislation that he himself had sponsored. The law barred firms that retained state legislators in their employ from appearing before state agencies; since Wilentz was still affiliated with his family's private law firm, he would have a conflict under this new law. So strong were Wilentz's convictions that the court must be impartial that he sponsored and supported the bill, knowing that it would be the end of his political career. He continued to work for his father's law firm until 1979, when he was nominated by Governor Brendan T. Byrne to the position of Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Wilentz brought the same commitment to fairness and justice to this new position and set about immediately making improvements to the system to increase its efficiency and make it more responsive to people's needs—especially people in poverty who, he feared, were not being afforded equal access to the justice system. In the words of Justice James H. Coleman, Jr.,
He could have been part of the silent majority. Knowing that silence is simply another form of injustice, he chose to become a crusader for diversity. He had a deep, heartfelt, warm concern for people who are disadvantaged.
This thread of concern for those less fortunate was woven through every decision Wilentz authored, every speech he gave, and every administrative action he took as administrator of the courts. It also was the source of his longstanding commitment to Legal Services of New Jersey, an organization that was very near to his heart. Wilentz took a firm stand against justices speaking on behalf of special interest groups, but carved out an exception for Legal Services. He was instrumental in securing funding for Legal Services through the IOLTA program and frequently spoke at Legal Services functions. He shared these words at one such event:
Legal Services of New Jersey is such a special interest group, clearly associated with controversial causes, but for the Judiciary, it is much more than that. Its mission transcends its special interest as advocate for the poor, its mission transcends the sometimes controversial causes it supports. Its mission is access to the courts, access to justice, equal justice, justice for all. Its mission is to see to it that the courthouse doors are just as open for the poor as for the rich.
In 1982, when approached by Marilyn Loftus with a request for a small committee to explore gender bias in the courts, Wilentz responded by creating a permanent Supreme Court Task Force on Women in the Courts. He charged the task force to report back on the extent of bias and made a commitment to eliminate it. When the task force presented their report the following year, he invited the press to the event and made a statement that became the Quotation of the Day in that evening's New York Times (November 22, 1983).
There's no room for gender bias in our system. There's no room for the funny joke and the not-so-funny joke, there's no room for conscious, inadvertent, sophisticated, clumsy, or any other kind of gender bias and certainly no room for gender bias that affects substantive rights.
While not able to appoint Supreme Court justices directly, Wilentz spoke out loudly and often about the need for greater diversity in the court system. The Supreme Court he joined in 1979 was comprised entirely of white men. Due in large part to his persistence, the court he left in 1996 included a female Chief Justice (Deborah T. Poritz), a female Associate Justice (Marie Garibaldi), and an African American Associate Justice (James H. Coleman, Jr.). The Appellate Division included two African American judges, one Latino, and seven women. Through the work of the committee to study minority concerns, established by Wilentz and led by Justice Coleman, the number of minority law clerks and administrative personnel also increased.
Chief Justice Wilentz presided over many contentious cases and authored many notable decisions, but two of the most significant for their impact on low-income New Jersey residents were SouthernBurlington County NAACP v. Mt. Laurel (1983), and Abbott v. Burke (1990). Both involved unequal access to constitutionally-guaranteed rights and both, though highly controversial, followed New Jersey precedent. Wilentz authored both opinions:
From the Mt. Laurel decision—
The Mount Laurel case itself threatens to become infamous. After all this time, ten years after the trial court's initial order invalidating its zoning ordinance, Mount Laurel remains afflicted with a blatantly exclusionary ordinance. Papered over with studies, rationalized by hired experts, the ordinance at its core is true to nothing but Mount Laurel's determination to exclude the poor.
From the Abbott decision—
Measured by any accepted standard, New Jersey has been generous in the amount of money spent for education. We currently spend more dollars per student for education than almost any other state. … The dilemma is that while we spend so much, there is absolutely no question that we are failing to provide the students in the poorer urban districts with the kind of an education that anyone could call thorough and efficient. … After all the analyses are completed, we are still left with these students and their lives. They are not being educated. Our Constitution says they must be.
Wilentz drew strong criticism from some quarters who accused him of steering the court in an activist direction. Controversy abounded when he was up for reappointment during Republican Governor Tom Kean's administration, but Kean stood his ground, stating that it is critical that the court remain impartial and that he would never fail to appoint a justice because of his or her political beliefs. In fact, despite Wilentz's strongly-held beliefs, his love for the rule of law always prevailed and he took great pride in leading a court with many opinions different from his own. Fellow Justice Gary Stein recalled a very open and collegial atmosphere on the Wilentz court:
We spent a lot of time in disagreement because the issues that came before us were issues about which people naturally could and would disagree. Nevertheless … he was very respectful and very interested in the thoughts and beliefs and opinions of every member of the court … When our opinions were circulated, he would allow for unlimited discussion because he wanted to make sure that every opinion that came out of this court he led was the best it could possibly be.
"The Chief" resigned from his position from a hospital bed in New York City after being diagnosed with cancer. He died three weeks later on July 23, 1996. But his legacy lives on, and his memory can best be summoned through his own words, offered at a Legal Services event in 1995:
The Judiciary's obligation to provide equal justice to the poor is a constitutional imperative. I regard the Judiciary's obligation to provide equal access, to that equal justice, as no less important. There is a long road to travel to equal justice for all, to equal access for all, but that is the road we are on, and I hope we won't get off until we get there, no matter how long it takes.
Notable Opinions
State v. Kelly, 91 N.J. 178 (1984)
Kelly v. Gwinnell, 96 N.J. 538 (1984)
So. Burlington NAACP v. Mt. Laurel, 92 N.J. 158 (1983)
In re Baby M, 109 N.J. 396 (1988)
Abbott v. Burke, 119 N.J. 287 (1990)
Madden v. Delran, 126 N.J. 591 (1992)