Kyrillos: “Judicial Independence Is Not Judicial Supremacy”
July 24, 2012
Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth), co-sponsor of New Jersey’s landmark public health and pension benefits reform legislation, issued the following statement on the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling striking down provisions of the law that pertain to the judicial branch of state government:
Judicial independence does not mean judicial supremacy and exceptionalism. The judicial pension system is in arguably the worst financial shape of all the state’s retirement accounts, and judges pay the least of all state employees for the best benefits.
Judges should be treated no differently than any other state employee or private sector worker. The cost of bailing out their troubled benefits plans should not fall exclusively to the taxpayers of New Jersey. If righting this wrong requires changing the state constitution, let’s do it.