Judge who was reprimanded for remarks to lawyers and witness is renominated to the bench
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie renominated Judge Joseph Portelli to the bench. L.E.MORMILE / Shutterstock.com
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has renominated a judge who was recently reprimanded for his remarks to a witness and lawyers.
Christie renominated Judge Joseph Portelli on May 26, about a week after the reprimand, the New Jersey Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. The nomination requires approval of the state senate.
The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with a recommendation to dismiss two of three counts of misconduct against Portelli, but agreed to reprimand the judge for alleged inappropriate comments to lawyers and a witness, according to a prior story by the New Jersey Law Journal (sub. req.) and NorthJersey.com. The reprimand was related to Portelli’s action when he was assigned to the family division in Passaic County.
The court’s order (PDF) cited allegations that Portelli told two lawyers in his chambers that one of the lawyers was doing a great job and he liked how she “shoves it up” or “rams it up” the law guardian’s “ass.” The order also referred to allegations (PDF) that Portelli had shown a legal pad to a state’s witness during court proceedings on which he wrote “you look nice today” and that her nails looked nice.
Portelli had said his remarks about the witness were part of a normal exchange of pleasantries and he didn’t compliment her during her testimony. He also denied saying anything negative about the law guardian.
The dismissed charges involved allegations that Portelli commented that child guardianship cases were “long and boring” and joked that lawyers could not sit on his lap. Portelli made the lap joke after he allowed a child to sit on his lap and a male public defender asked if he could sit on the judge’s lap too, Portelli said during his ethics hearing. Portelli said he then told a female deputy attorney general that she could not sit on his lap either.
