>New Jersey’s runaway Supreme Court
Prior to the 1970’s, New Jersey was an economic powerhouse and an envy of other states across America. New Jersey offered businesses and entrepreneurs a low tax environment where they could flourish and create jobs. Likewise, New Jersey offered its residents and ideal place to prosper and raise a family.
In the years since, New Jersey’s tax climate has devolved into one of the worst in the nation. Out-of-control spending, as well as burdensome regulations and mandates from Trenton, have all contributed to New Jersey’s dismal tax climate. And New Jersey has become unaffordable to many of our friends and neighbors who have fled for greener pastures.
While Trenton legislators and past governors share in the blame for our state’s fiscal woes, the state’s activist Supreme Court has arguably been most responsible New Jersey’s economic decline.
For decades now, New Jersey’s runaway Supreme Court has overstepped its bounds with outrageous decisions on school funding, housing and even taxpayer-funded abortions.
The Mount Laurel decisions led to the socialist affordable housing bureaucracy – the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Thanks to the Mount Laurel decisions, property taxes have been driven higher as local zoning boards have lost their authority to build in their communities as they see fit and taxpayers and businesses have been forced to subsidize the homes of others.
In Right to Choose v. Byrne (1982), the Court ruled that the State could not prohibit public funding of abortions through Medicaid. Thanks to the Court’s Byrne decision, New Jersey taxpayers, many of whom object to the procedure on religious and moral grounds, are nonetheless compelled to subsidize abortions through their tax dollars.
Starting with Robinson v. Cahill I (1973) and continuing with a series of more than twenty Abbott cases, the Court has infringed upon the Legislature’s constitutional authority to appropriate our school dollars. Thanks to Abbott, hundreds of millions of our tax dollars have been redistributed from New Jersey’s suburban and rural towns to failing school systems like Newark and Camden. Abbott is one of the main reasons our income taxes are so high.
The Court’s blatant disregard for our state constitution and incremental usurpation of the Legislature’s authority to allocate school aid dollars has resulted in New Jersey becoming the most expensive public school system in the country. On average, Abbott District schools receive more than $20,000 per pupil yet there is little to show in the way of results for this massive transfer of wealth.
Amazingly, New Jersey’s Supreme Court still doesn’t think this is enough. Just last month, the Court ruled that last year’s allocation of state aid was unconstitutional and ordered yet another $500 MILLION in funding for the Abbott Districts!
Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) and a number of other conservative leaders along with AFP activists will begin a long overdue campaign to educate citizens across New Jersey about the destructive role the Court has had on our state.They will be hosting a press conference in Committee Room 3 at the State House in Trenton on Thursday, June 23 at noon. Lunch will be provided.
