He was the first Justice of the Supreme Court to be denied tenure in more than a half-century since the adoption of the Constitution of New Jersey in 1947.
[7] To fill the vacancy Chief Justice Stuart Rabner appointed a number of acting judges (known as Judge of the Appellate Division, Temporarily Assigned to the Supreme Court[8]) during an extended period of controversy and conflict with the New Jersey Senate about the court's political composition.
[11] A week later, Governor Phil Murphy announced his intention to nominate Rachel Wainer Apter, the director of the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, to replace LaVecchia.
[12] Apter was blocked for 14 months by Republican Senator Holly Schepisi by a process called senatorial consent (similar to the blue slip process for federal judgeships),[13] and was only allowed to move forward after two more justices, Barry T. Albin and Faustino J. Fernandez-Vina, had reached retirement age in the interim and Gov.
[15] Additionally, Michael Noriega was nominated and confirmed in 2023 to succeed Albin.