Retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice James H. Coleman is the guest on the latest edition of the Sidebar podcast.
Coleman explains the goals of the oral history project that is part of the New Jersey Supreme Court Virtual Museum, which has an online trove of information, photos, interviews, and artifacts.
The project aims to interview all of the living retired justices and chief justices to help the public and profession get a better understanding of the people who have sat on the state's highest court and shaped New Jersey law. The oral history project is being conducted in conjunction with the Rutgers Oral History Archives.
Coleman also shares a bit of his own path to the Court. He is the son of a Southern dirt farmer, who went on to become the first black judge appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court and has been described as heavy on substance and light on flash.
The conversation touches on everything from Coleman's dedication to the principles of hard work, integrity and honor, to peremptory challenges and racial profiling, to the problems with elected judges, to Justice Anne Patterson's renomination, to how many justices graduated from Ivy League schools.
Download the episode on Apple Podcasts, or listen above via Soundcloud today.