A group representing New Jersey’s top county prosecutors will not have to hand over its records to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey after the state’s highest court ruled they are not a public entity subject to open records laws.
The County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey has just 21 members, the appointed prosecutors in each Garden State county who oversee major criminal cases.
It was formed to “maintain close cooperation” with New Jersey’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer, according to its tax records, and hosts an annual conference in Atlantic City.
In 2019, the ACLU-NJ filed a public records request seeking minutes, agendas and legal briefs the group filed in important cases.
New Jersey is one of the few states in which county prosecutors are appointed by the governor rather than elected. In court papers, the group said it was seeking the records because the prosecutors hold “vast power within the state’s criminal justice system.”
The prosecutors association denied that request, stating it was “a private non-profit organization and not a public agency,” prompting the ACLU-NJ to file suit.
The ACLU argued the prosecutors group “is operated entirely by government appointees who are paid with New Jersey taxpayer funds to perform legal duties on behalf of the State of New Jersey while using government resources to do so.”
The prosecutors association countered it could not comply with a request for its records because it had no “physical office, location, or even an online presence” and its documents “are scattered and possessed by the many members of the organization.”
Two other groups, Libertarians for Transparent Government and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, also filed papers in the case, citing examples of the group using county-paid office staff and other resources for its conference and claiming the group had received at least $2.6 million in county government funds since 2015.
Over a four-year legal battle, lower courts sided with prosecutors. In a 5-2 decision, the state Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed those rulings.
“Though we are disappointed that the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to recognize CPANJ as a public agency, it remains true that the public has a right to know how prosecutors deploy local resources when carrying out their work,” Jeanne LoCicero, the ACLU-NJ’s legal director, said in an email.
In a dissent, Justice Rachel Wainer Apter wrote that the group should be subject to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act and the common law right of access because CPANJ “is simply another name for the county prosecutors themselves.”
An attorney for the prosecutors association, former Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni, said the group agreed with the ruling.
“We are gratified but not surprised that courts at every level in New Jersey have agreed with us,” he said in an email.
“The highest court in NJ has spoken and it remains clear that the CPANJ is neither a public agency nor public entity subject to the common law right to access.”
Stories by S.P. Sullivan
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X.