From Princeton Municipal Court to the State's Highest Courts, Phil Carchman Remains Passionate About New Jersey's Judiciary

Princeton, NJ -- April 1, aka April Fool’s Day, is a special day for legendary and retired-for-the-third-time NJ Judge Philip S. Carchman. For the record, the significance of the date has nothing to do with fooling anyone about his retirement.

The first day of April happens to be his wife’s birthday. When I interviewed him on April 1, JoAnn Carchman, an arts advocate/activist who graciously welcomed me into the Princeton community when I first arrived in town in 1980, turned 80 years old. The couple has been celebrating birthdays in Princeton since they moved here 58 years ago.

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Another fun ‘no foolin’ fact about Judge Carchman is that his introduction to Princeton’s Municipal Court occurred in the fall of 1966 for his own violation of Princeton Borough’s overnight parking law. He contested the ticket because the color of the no-parking sign was non-conforming to the statute. The case was dismissed -- unlike Phil Carchman, who went on to embrace New Jersey’s court system with legendary humanity, wisdom, gusto, and perseverance.

As much as it would have been a friendly thing to do, the purpose of my phone call to the judge had nothing to do with his wife, JoAnn; or his two daughters -- Rebecca, pediatric intensive care physician in Ashville, North Carolina, and Jennifer, renowned documentary filmmaker in Manhattan; or his four grandchildren. I wanted to know about Judge Carchman’s other family, the one to which he has dedicated his life for more than 50 years – the NJ judicial system.

Carchman, who just turned 82 years old, has sat in every judicial position in New Jersey, including temporary assignments to the Supreme Court, and has written more than 1,200 opinions. Excluding the parking ticket appearance in 1966, Carchman’s history with the court system is daunting, as per below:

2012-2020: He retired from the state judiciary in 2012 when he turned 70, as the law mandates. But he returned to service the next day as a recall judge and continued serving until he retired a second time in 2020.

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2007-2012: Presiding judge, New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division.

2004-2008: Administrative director of courts; he took a leave of absence from the Appellate Division and was appointed the administrative director of courts, where he served with three chief justices – Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, Chief Justice James Zazzali, and Chief Justice Stuart Rabner. He returned to the Appellate Division in 2008.

1997-2007: Judge, New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division.

1986-1997: Judge, New Jersey Vicinage 7.

1981-1986: Prosecutor, Mercer County.

1973-1981: Municipal court judge, Princeton Borough and Township.

1967-1981: Attorney, Princeton and Montclair based law firm Carchman, Annich, Sochor & Shuster.

1967-1970: Deputy attorney general.

The barrage of prestigious judicial appointments began in 1973, when at the age of 31, Carchman was appointed to the part-time position of municipal court judge of Princeton Township and Princeton Borough. And it was in that role that I, a reporter and editor for the Princeton Packet newspaper, saw Carchman in action. My first impression was my lasting impression. Even in the most mundane cases, like parking tickets, he engaged, listened, and never seemed paternalistic or intimidating.

But there is an additional aspect to his career - to use a judicial term, a “sidebar” - that fascinated me, a New Jersey politics junkie, as much as his astoundingly expansive judicial career.

In August, 2021, Judge Carchman was appointed by New Jersey Chief Justice Rabner to serve as the independent 11th member of the New Jersey Legislative Apportionment Commission.

Bringing him statewide notoriety and kudos and out of retirement for the third time in his life was his King-Solomon-like oversight of the Legislative (not Congressional) Apportionment Commission. Consisting of five Republicans, five Democrats, and a “neutral” 11th member tie-breaker, the commission was tasked with redrawing New Jersey’s 40 legislative districts for the 2023 elections. In the past, the “tiebreaker” role always was filled by an academic social scientist.

Because it is “Jersey,” I (and most other cynics) expected a belligerent, in-your-face, political process that would yield a district map leading to a court challenge. The reapportionment process turned out to be remarkably civilized, productive, and rational under the leadership of Carchman.

In 2022, after a week of deliberations, officials came to an historic compromise on what the state’s legislative districts should look like for the rest of the decade. For the first time in New Jersey’s reapportionment history, the Legislative Apportionment Commission came to a bipartisan consensus without needing the 11th committee member to cast a tie breaking vote. Judge Carchman lectured on the topic for the 37th Annual Chief Justice Joseph Weintraub Lecture on November 17, 2022. He is the author of “Legislative Apportionment in New Jersey 2022: A Historic Result” published in the spring, 2023, edition of the Rutgers University Law Review.

One needs no complex legal brief/lecture, however, to discover the principles that have guided and inspired his extraordinary service to the state of New Jersey. His advice to himself and others in public service is as simple as the word “never.”

1. - Never take oneself too seriously.

“This is the best advice I ever received as a judge.  When I was first appointed as municipal court judge in Princeton, a cousin of mine, a municipal judge in Peekskill, New York, gave me these words of wisdom that I have kept on a post-it-note on my desk throughout my entire career. All people, no matter what their backgrounds, need to be treated with respect and an understanding of what they are going through. It is important to listen, to stay humble, and not to get too full of oneself. This is good advice for all of us, no matter what our jobs are. Sure, I might have strayed on occasion, but that note to myself has kept me grounded. One of the most gratifying things that happened to me was when a lawyer and his client who lost his case in my court acknowledged to me that they had gotten a fair shake,” he says.

2.- Never lose faith in people.

“Most people will try to do the right thing. Contrary to the opinions of many, I believe that lots of good people are still out there. Evil does not dominate. When confronted, people generally will try to do the right thing - and so will their lawyers,” he says.

3.- Never underestimate the quality of New Jersey’s judiciary.

“New Jersey’s judiciary – judges are appointed as opposed to elected - in my view is the finest state judiciary in the country,” says Carchman. “Our judges really try hard to get it right.”

He acknowledges that New Jersey in the past few years has experienced a shortage of judges, but “this situation has been improving.” COVID led to more judges retiring at an earlier age, and a system of appointing judges rather than electing them takes longer. But Carchman and judicial scholars note how an elected judiciary brings a raft of other problems, often compromising the quality of the judicial process.

Early retirement seems incomprehensible to Carchman. “I loved being a judge. There were rough days, certainly, but there never was a time, never a day, I did not want to be in court,” he says.

His love of being in court began long before he became an attorney. “As a kid (in West Orange, NJ), starting when I was about 10 or 11 years old, I used to accompany my father, a general practice attorney, to court in Newark. I would watch the trial with intensity and pay special attention to the behavior of the judges.” He would make a judgment about what was good behavior, what was not so good, and how Phil Carchman would behave if he ever were in such a position. “If I liked what I saw, I wanted to model myself after that particular judge,” he says.

Even though he can’t discuss case specifics, Carchman admits to one regret about cases over the years - that he failed to keep a journal from day one of his service in the NJ judicial system.

“There was a story every day and some of the best stories came out of Princeton Municipal Court,” he says.

During his time as municipal judge, Princeton Borough and Princeton Township Municipal Court proceedings were reported in detail in the local media. Judge Carchman recalls one defendant worried not that her traffic violation (speeding on Mercer Street) was going to be in the local papers, but rather that her true age would appear in print.

Although Carchman has managed to succeed at his third attempt to retire from the New Jersey Judiciary, he still is attached. He is lecturing, writing, and teaching for many institutions, including: the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (his law school alma mater/undergrad alumnus of U of Penn’s Wharton School), Princeton University, Rutgers University, Rider University, Rutgers University Law School, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, and the Center for Modern Aging Princeton’s Evergreen Forum. Recently awarded the 2022 “Making Democracy Work Award” by the New Jersey League of Women Voters, Carchman is writing a League publication about his New Jersey Apportionment Commission experience.

And generally, once a year at Princeton government’s municipal reorganization meetings, Judge Carchman returns to his municipal roots by swearing in newly elected Princeton officials. In 2024 he administered the oath of office to Princeton Council member David Cohen.

I am confident that my verdict about the value of Phil Carchman is unanimous among every New Jerseyan who has known or worked with him. Judge Carchman never can be allowed to retire from educating us about democracy - no foolin.’

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