Update: On Aug. 7, acting Gov. Tahesha Way signed an Executive Order for U.S. and New Jersey flags to fly at half staff at all state departments, offices, agencies and instrumentalities from Aug. 23-25 in honor of the late state Supreme Court Justice James Coleman Jr.
Read the Aug. 5 story about Coleman’s passing below.
James Coleman Jr., the first African American to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court, died Aug. 2 at the age of 91.
A fierce advocate of social and racial justice, Coleman wrote more than 2,000 opinions during his 39-year judicial career, many of which helped to break down the barriers of segregation.
That includes an appellate opinion that struck down the indiscriminate exclusion of racial minorities from serving on juries. He also authored the Supreme Court decision concluding that a special jury charge regarding the unreliability of cross-racial identification was required in cases that involved cross-racial eyewitness identification.
Then-Gov. Christine Todd Whitman nominated Coleman to the court in 1994. After confirmation from the New Jersey Senate, he served as an associate justice until his retirement nine years later.
Coleman then went on to join Morristown-based law firm Porzio Bromberg & Newman PC as of counsel. There, he focused his practice on advising attorneys and clients on appellate strategy and acted as a mediator or arbitrator for complex, private and public disputes.
A decorated career
The son of a sharecropper in Lawrenceville, Va., Coleman was born May 4, 1933, during the Great Depression and the height of racial segregation and white supremacy. Nonetheless, he overcame great odds to graduate high school, earn a bachelor’s degree from Virginia State University and a law degree at Howard University School of Law.
After admittance to the New Jersey bar in 1960, Coleman practiced privately for the next decade. He had offices in Elizabeth and Roselle.
Coleman joined the former New Jersey Department of Labor and Industry as an assistant to the commissioner in 1960. Four years later, he became the first African American appointed as a judge in the New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation. He served there until 1973, when then Gov. William Cahill nominated Coleman as a Union County Court judge.
He then proceeded to serve as a superior court judge from 1978-1980 and as a state appellate court judge from 1981-1994.
After retiring from the supreme court in 2003, John Wallace replaced Coleman.
Leading and learning
Over the years, Coleman has received numerous honors, including the inaugural Governor Kean Award for Commitment to People in Poverty and the Justice Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence. He was also a recipient of the New Jersey State Bar Association Medal of Honor and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Law Journal.
Along with his 2020 autobiography, “A Plowboy’s Judicial Coronation and the Intersection of Law and Religion,” Coleman published several law review articles.
He also lectured at Seton Hall Law School and Rutgers Law School, the New Jersey Judicial College; ALI/ABA on Products Liability; Black Congress on Health and Law; and various trial lawyer associations.
Additionally, Coleman was a member to numerous Supreme Court committees. Those duties dealt with the New Jersey Judicial College, sentencing disparity, medical malpractice, concerns of minorities in the judiciary, probation services, court reporting services and legal services.
He is survived by his wife, Sophia, his two children and four grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements remain pending and a private memorial service in his honor is also being planned.
A ‘historic barrier-breaker’
Following his passing, members of New Jersey’s legal community are remembering Coleman’s commitment to fairness and impartiality.
Vito Gagliardi Jr., managing principal of Porzio Bromberg & Newman, said the firm was “proud to play a small role in Justice Coleman’s continued legacy and pursuit of social justice in New Jersey and beyond.”
“He was a historic barrier-breaker, a towering intellect, and a fundamentally decent gentleman. We were blessed to have him spend the last 20 years of his career at Porzio, and we are grateful for the way he helped so many clients and mentored so many of our lawyers,” said Gagliardi, adding, “We join the Coleman family, the legal community, and all those who respect our system of justice in mourning the loss of Justice Coleman.”
He was a historic barrier-breaker, a towering intellect, and a fundamentally decent gentleman.
– Vito Gagliardi Jr., Porzio Bromberg & Newman
Peter Verniero, a member at Newark-headquartered Sills Cummis & Gross PC as well as former New Jersey Supreme Court justice said, “I had the privilege of meeting then-Judge James Coleman when I was serving as chief counsel to Gov. Christine Whitman who appointed Judge Coleman to our state Supreme Court. My respect for this towering leader of the law only increased when I joined Justice Coleman on the Court and saw up close his enormous abilities and the depth of his character.”
Verniero, who also served as New Jersey attorney general from 1996-1999, continued, “He was one of the few justices to have served on every level of the Superior Court before joining our state’s highest court. He was a person of strong intellect with an unshakable sense of fairness and unyielding integrity. Those qualities, plus his unparalleled judicial experience, made him an instant leader on the Supreme Court.”
An inspiration
“He understood the historic and inspiring nature of his appointment, but he never acted as if he were a giant of the law, which he most surely was. Instead, he was down to earth, a mentor to his law clerks and a role model for the rest of us. I will miss him greatly. The New Jersey judiciary has lost one of its treasures,” Verniero said.
He understood the historic and inspiring nature of his appointment, but he never acted as if he were a giant of the law, which he most surely was.
– Peter Verniero, Sills Cummis & Gross PC
New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said, “Justice Coleman’s life story – the self-described son of a ‘southern dirt farmer’ and grandson of a slave, who grew up in the racial segregation era of Jim Crow – will continue to serve as an inspiration for generations to come. He was without question a pioneer in New Jersey’s court system: the first African American to serve as a workers’ compensation judge, the first to serve as an appellate judge, and the first African American to serve on the state Supreme Court. His legacy lives on through his work.”
Rabner recalled, “As Justice Coleman eloquently described in an essay after his retirement, he ‘looked for the opportunity in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.’ In doing so, he marked a path that has helped create a fairer system of justice.”
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin commented, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of the Honorable James H. Coleman, Jr., a towering figure in our state’s history and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Justice Coleman was not just a legal giant but a beacon of fairness, integrity, and perseverance…Our thoughts are with his family and all who had the privilege of knowing and working with him. Rest in peace, Justice Coleman. Your legacy will forever inspire us.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:24 p.m. ET Aug. 5, 2024, to correct that Justice Coleman is survived by his wife, Sophia, his two children and four grandchildren. The story previously stated his wife predeceased him.
