Honorable Marie L. Garibaldi

Image courtesy of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Media Services, Trenton, NJ

Honorable Marie L. Garibaldi (1934- ), a native of New Jersey, is the first woman to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court.

She was appointed by Governor Thomas Kean in 1982. A former Weehawken municipal judge and partner in a prominent New Jersey law firm, Garibaldi wrote the majority opinion in several cases affecting women. She was quoted to say, “I was the first woman with six white men. In 17 years, we now have three women and an African American. I don’t know if it affected the decisions of the court, but it affects the perception of the community to our decisions.”. Garibaldi retired from the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1999.

—

References:

Belsky, Martin H. 2002. The Rehnquist court: a retrospective. New York: Oxford University Press. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/559847937  

Marie L. Garibaldi. 1998. “The Rehnquist Court and State Constitutional Law”. Tulsa Law Review. 34. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8091531710