It has the sole authority to prescribe and amend court rules and regulate the practice of law, and it is the arbiter and overseer of the decennial legislative redistricting.

[5] As time progressed and political philosophies changed, people took issue with numerous parts of the original constitution: It was hastily thrown together, used property qualifications for enfranchisement, contained scant guarantees of freedoms, was unamendable, and freely intermingled the three branches of government.

[11] If the Commission still cannot reach a 7–6 majority in favor of a final redistricting configuration, the two district plans receiving the greatest number of votes, but not fewer than five votes, are submitted to the Supreme Court, which selects and certifies whichever of the two plans so submitted conforms most closely to the requirements of the Constitution and laws of the United States.

[15] The Governor nominates all justices to the Court but may choose only from among those lawyers admitted to the New Jersey bar for at least ten years.

By virtue of accepting a position in the Executive or Legislative branches of government or becoming a candidate for political office, a justice is considered as resigned from the bench.

[22] By tradition, a partisan balance is maintained on the Supreme Court, with the sitting governor permitted to arrange his appointments so that his party has a one-seat advantage.

To avoid appointing a Republican to the highest judicial position in the state, Democratic governor Jon Corzine instead elevated Associate Justice James R. Zazzali, a Democrat, to the chief justice position and appointed a Republican to fill the seat Zazzali had occupied.

When Zazzali reached the age of 70 less than a year later, Corzine was able to nominate a Democrat, Attorney General and former federal prosecutor Stuart Rabner, to serve as chief justice.

After New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat, refused to consider any nominee to Wallace's seat, Christie nominated Patterson to replace Justice Rivera-Soto who announced he would step down when his term expired in September 2011.

[27] On June 5, 2020, Murphy announced his intention to nominate Fabiana Pierre-Louis to replace Justice Walter F. Timpone, who was required to retire on November 10, 2020.

[36] A week later, Murphy announced his intention to nominate Rachel Wainer Apter, the director of the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, to replace LaVecchia.

[37] 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),[38] 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 Murphy nominated Republican Douglas M. Fasciale to succeed Fernandez-Vina.

The principle of judicial review in New Jersey was the result of then Chief Justice David Brearley's opinion in Holmes v. Walton (argued 1779, decided 1780).

The Court has delivered many cases concerning the rights of individuals, in many cases reading them expansively: In its 1966 decision in Clover Hill Swimming Club, Inc. v. Robert F. Goldsboro and Division on Civil Rights (47 N.J. 25; 219 A.2d 161; 1966 N.J. LEXIS 180), the court ruled against the club, which had denied membership to an African-American.

150, 137 N.J. 585 (1994)), the Court ruled that Clearview did not violate students' free speech rights under the First Amendment or the New Jersey State Constitution.

Dale sued for violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which the court unanimously agreed applied to the BSA.

In a 4–2 vote in 2000, the court struck down a law signed by Governor Christine Whitman requiring parental notification when abortions were performed on minor children.

The Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, set up to cover injuries by uninsured drivers, refused to compensate him as he was not a legal resident.

[51] In 2006, the Court decided in Lewis v. Harris that the legislature must change state law, within 180 days, to afford equal protection to same-sex couples, via marriage, or an identical substitute, such as civil unions.

[54] In State v. Driver (1962), the Court held that a sound recording of an interrogation of a defendant can only be admitted into evidence if it is competent and relevant.

[42] Since then there have been seven "Abbott cases", many of which ended with the court finding the New Jersey Legislature's latest educational acts unconstitutional.

In its opinion it cited previous cases before the Court, including one stating "Election laws are to be liberally construed", to decide that the change was in the interest of the electorate.