Robert Nathan Wilentz (February 17, 1927 – July 23, 1996) was
Chief Justice of the
New Jersey Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging the ...
from 1979 to 1996, making him the longest-serving Chief Justice since the Supreme Court became New Jersey's highest court in 1948.
Early life
Robert Wilentz was born on February 17, 1927 in
Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Perth Amboy is a city (New Jersey), city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,4 ...
to
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
and Lena Wilentz. During Robert's childhood, his father was
Attorney General of New Jersey
The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confirmed by the New Jersey Senate, and term limited. ...
, in which role he prosecuted
Bruno Hauptmann for
the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., one of the highest profile criminal cases in American history. David Wilentz was also a powerful
political boss
In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...
in Middlesex County.
[
Wilentz graduated from ]Perth Amboy High School
Perth Amboy High School (or PAHS) is a four-year comprehensive community public high school which serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Perth Amboy in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary ...
, where he was valedictorian.[ Stout, David]
"Robert Wilentz, 69, New Jersey Chief Justice, Dies; Court Aided Women and the Poor"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', July 24, 1996. Accessed December 17, 2022. "Justice Wilentz, who also had a home in Deal, N.J., announced on June 13 that he had cancer. He retired on July 1 because he could no longer carry out his duties." He first enrolled at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, but left school to serve in the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. After completing two years of service, he graduated from Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.[
After Harvard, Wilentz received his law degree from ]Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, where he was named a Harlan Fiske Scholar and won the Robert Noxon Toppan Prize in Constitutional Law.[
]
State politics
He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...
in 1965 and 1967 but chose not to seek a third term in 1969.[
He considered a campaign for Governor of New Jersey in the 1973 election, but ultimately decided against it.][
]
Chief Justice of New Jersey
Wilentz was appointed Chief Justice by Democratic Governor Brendan Byrne
Brendan Thomas Byrne (April 1, 1924 – January 4, 2018) was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982.
A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a privat ...
in 1979.
Apart from his jurisprudence, Wilentz openly sought to use the structural role of Chief Justice to expand access to New Jersey courts. In 1982, he convened a commission to study the treatment of women in the New Jersey court system, both as lawyers and parties. He instructed judges to record observations of bias and take courses on bias.[ In that same year, he personally ordered a reorganization of the state's trial court system, reducing the number of Superior Court districts from 15 to 12 and redrawing their boundaries.][
In 1986, was reappointed as chief justice in 1986 by Republican Governor ]Thomas Kean
Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Kean served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Following his tenure as governor, ...
, but there was a confirmation battle in the New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...
. After a contentious debate that involved charges of judicial activism and criticism of Wilentz's residence in Manhattan, where his wife was undergoing treatment for cancer, the Chief Justice was confirmed for a second term by a vote of 21 to 19. Had he been rejected, his would have been the first such denial under New Jersey's 1947 Constitution.[
]
''Mount Laurel II''
Perhaps the most notable[ opinion Wilentz authored as Chief Justice was ''Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Township of Mount Laurel'', 92 N.J. 158 (1983). This case was a follow-up to a 1975 decision by the same name (commonly referred to as ''Mount Laurel I'' or simply ''Mount Laurel''), which established that ]exclusionary zoning
Exclusionary zoning is the use of zoning ordinances to exclude certain types of land uses from a given community, especially to regulate racial and economic diversity. In the United States, exclusionary zoning ordinances are standard in almost all ...
practices aimed at low-income, affordable, or single-family housing were a violation of the New Jersey Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the sta ...
. ''Mount Laurel I'' held that municipalities must afford realistic opportunity for the construction of low-income housing. In ''Mount Laurel II'', Chief Justice Wilentz found that towns must take affirmative action to construct low-income housing, through subsidies, tax breaks, and a presumption of approval for building plans. Wilentz instructed the lower courts to come up with firm, quantifiable targets for every municipality in the state. Among Wilentz's proposed judicial remedies in ''Mount Laurel II'' was the so-called "builder’s remedy": if a municipality did not have a realistic, implementable plan to meet the ''Mount Laurel'' requirements, a builder could sue to have courts override the local government and directly grant zoning approval.
The ''Mount Laurel II'' holding was eventually enforced by a legislative compromise, though supporters of the Court's decision thought the compromise was weak.[
]
''State v. Kelly''
Wilentz's opinion in State v. Kelly, 91 N.J. 178 (1984), remains a landmark ruling in criminal law. The defendant, Gladys Kelly, was on trial for the murder of her husband, Ernest Kelly with a pair of scissors. Kelly presented a defense relying on expert testimony that Kelly suffered from battered woman syndrome
Battered woman syndrome (BWS) is a pattern of signs and symptoms displayed by a woman who has suffered persistent intimate partner violence: whether psychological, physical, or sexual, from her male partner. It is classified in the ICD-9 (code ) a ...
, which the trial court excluded as an improper subject for expert evidence. Wilentz ruled that the expert testimony on the matter was appropriate and therefore admissible and remanded the case for further proceedings. The case opened the door for such defenses in New Jersey courts, and they have been subsequently admitted in other states.
Other notable opinions
*'' In re Baby M'' (1988), was the first court ruling on the validity of surrogacy
Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...
. The biological mother in this case sought to retain custody of her biological child, in violation of a surrogacy contract. Writing for a unanimous Court, Wilentz invalidated the surrogacy contract as void
Void may refer to:
Science, engineering, and technology
* Void (astronomy), the spaces between galaxy filaments that contain no galaxies
* Void (composites), a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material
* Void, synonym for vacuum, a ...
for reasons public policy. In a dictum
In general usage, a dictum ( in Latin; plural dicta) is an authoritative or dogmatic statement. In some contexts, such as legal writing and church cantata librettos, ''dictum'' can have a specific meaning.
Legal writing
In United States legal ter ...
, the Court held that a common "best interests
Best interests or best interests of the child is a child rights principle, which derives from Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says that “in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private ...
" analysis should apply to determine the child's eventual home.
Personal life
Wilentz married Jacqueline Malino (1928 – March 29, 1989) in 1949 and they had three children, James Robert, Amy
Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''.
People A–E
* Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress
* Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886– ...
and Thomas."'Restless Seeker for Justice': Robert Nathan Wilentz"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', January 22, 1983. Accessed March 21, 2008.
Retirement and death
A resident of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and Deal, New Jersey
Deal is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, settled by Europeans in the mid-1660s and named after an English carpenter from Deal, Kent. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 900, an increas ...
, Wilentz retired from the bench on July 1, 1996, due to advanced cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. He died three weeks later on July 23, 1996. He would have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in February 1997.[
]
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilentz, Robert
1927 births
1996 deaths
American people of Latvian-Jewish descent
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
People from Deal, New Jersey
Perth Amboy High School alumni
Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly
Politicians from Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Harvard University alumni
Princeton University alumni
Columbia Law School alumni
20th-century American judges
20th-century American politicians