Saint Peter’s Faculty Member with Supreme Court Expertise Does Not Anticipate Favorable Ruling for New Jersey Republicans on Senate Ballot
October 4, 2002— Jersey City- Saint Peter’s College Visiting Assistant Professor Alain Sanders, a former Time Magazine senior reporter and lawyer, does not believe the United States Supreme Court will likely intervene and reverse yesterday’s New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling that allows Democrat Frank Lautenberg to be substituted for Robert Torricelli on the ballot for the upcoming Senate election.
Sanders, who spent 21 years covering the Supreme Court for Time offers these suggestions:
“Given the widespread popular and scholarly criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention in the 2000 Presidential election, the federal Justices are likely to be hesitant to step into New Jersey’s election brawl. Article I, section 4 of the U.S Constitution lodges the power to regulate the times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators primarily in the hands of the States. To overrule the New Jersey decision, which is based on the state supreme court’s authoritative interpretation of the state election laws, the U.S. Supreme Court needs to discern a strong overriding national interest.”
“The Republican Party’s decision to appeal the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision to the United States Supreme Court could be politically problematic. The appeal could re-ignite the public debate over the federal Supreme Court’s intervention in the last election, and re-open the arguments over the legitimacy of the 2000 outcome. At a time when international dangers argue for a measure of national unity, this may not be the wisest course to follow.”
“The New Jersey Supreme Court decision is wrapped around the compelling notion of voter choice. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 Presidential election decision was widely criticized for having short-circuited a more complete determination of precisely that, voter choice. As a result, I suspect the federal Justices may be more reluctant this time around to issue a ruling that could again be perceived as limiting voter choice. A decision that yields only one active major party candidate on the New Jersey ballot could easily be interpreted by the public as just such a ruling.”
TO SET UP INTERVIEWS WITH ALAIN SANDERS PLEASE CALL HIM AT (201) 915-9163 or (201) 967-8966