State v. McCabe

In this case, we revisit the issue of recusal in the context of part-time municipal court judges who are permitted to practice law subject to certain restrictions. We are asked to decide whether a municipal court judge must recuse himself when the judge and the defense attorney are adversaries in an unrelated, pending probate case that has been dormant for two years.

The question raises concerns about public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of our system of justice, which we recently addressed in DeNike v. Cupo, 196 N.J. 502, 958 A.2d 446 (2008). Because judges must avoid not only…