Congress moved closer Wednesday to addressing a “state of emergency” caused by vacancies in federal courts in New Jersey as the Senate Judiciary Committee quizzed two judicial nominees, each with connections to Bergen County...

...The Judicial Conference of the United States said New Jersey’s courts had “emergency” status in July because four of the state’s 17 federal judges had retired or gone part-time since the beginning of the year, leaving too high a caseload for the remaining judges.

“Considering the rapidly increasing vacancy rate on the district court, both nominees deserve swift consideration by the committee and the full Senate,” Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from Paramus, told the committee as he introduced Neals and Martinotti to the committee.


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