Richard Joseph Hughes (August 10, 1909 – December 7, 1992) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. A Democrat, he served as the 45th governor of New Jersey from 1962 to 1970, and as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979. Hughes is the only person to have served New Jersey as both governor and chief justice.[1][2] Hughes was also the first Roman Catholic governor in New Jersey's history.[3]
Early life and education
Hughes was born into an Irish-American family on August 10, 1909, in Florence Township, New Jersey.[4] He was the son of Richard Paul and Veronica Hughes (née Gallagher). His father was active in Democratic politics, serving as a state civil service commissioner, warden (then known as "principal keeper") of Trenton State Prison, now called New Jersey State Prison, and chair of the Burlington County Democratic Party. Hughes graduated from Cathedral High School in Trenton, Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and the New Jersey Law School, now Rutgers Law School.[2]
In December 1939, Hughes became a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. In that role, he prosecuted federal crimes, including against members of the pro-Nazi German-American Vocational League. Hughes secured numerous convictions, which bolstered his standing. Hughes stepped down as Assistant U.S. Attorney in June 1945, after being elected chairman of the Mercer County Democratic Party, and resumed private practice in partnership with Thorn Lord, who had been U.S. Attorney.[3]
In 1948, Hughes was appointed by acting Governor John M. Summerill, Jr. as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (which, after the state court system was reorganized, became Mercer County Court). After Superior Court judge William J. Brennan, Jr. was appointed as a justice of the state supreme court in February 1952, Governor Alfred E. Driscoll appointed Hughes to fill the vacancy on the Superior Court bench. Hughes was later appointed to be assignment judge for Union County and was thereafter elevated to the Superior Court, Appellate Division.[3] As a Superior Court judge, Chief Justice Arthur T. Vanderbilt appointed Hughes as chair of a committee tasked with studying the state's handling of juvenile offenders and making recommendations for changes; the state supreme court accepted the committee's recommendations, leading to a reform of the New Jersey juvenile and domestic-relations courts.[3][2]
Hughes was considered by Governor Robert B. Meyner as a possible nominee to the state supreme court bench.[3] Seeking to support his large family, however, Hughes resigned from the bench in November 1957 in resume the practice of law.[3][2] In his successful practice, Hughes' clients included the Association of New Jersey Railroads, Public Service Electric & Gas Company, and manufacturers of polio vaccines, whom Hughes defended in antitrust matters.[2]
One of the important issues of Hughes' term as governor was state taxation; at the time Hughes took office in 1962, "New Jersey was one of only a handful of states that had neither an income tax nor a sales tax."[2] Hughes suffered a political defeat when a bond question, which would have issued $750 million in bonds for capital construction, was voted down in the November 1962 elections.[3][2] Hughes announced his support for enactment of a state personal income tax; consideration of the proposal was delayed by leaders in the state legislature.[2] During Hughes' campaign for re-election, the tax issue was overshadowed by a political controversy arose when Eugene Genovese, an instructor at Rutgers University, publicly stated that he would "welcome a North Vietnamese victory" in Vietnam.[2] Hughes' Republican challenger, State Senator Wayne Dumont, called for Genovese to be fired; Hughes criticized Genovese's views as "outrageously wrong" but robustly supported academic freedom.[3][2]
With the backing of organized labor, Hughes was re-elected with 1,279,589 votes, with Dumont taking 915,996.[3] In his second term, he pushed for passage of a state income tax. Although both chambers of the legislature has Democratic majorities, the bill failed, having passed the state House but being defeated by a single vote in the state Senate.[2] In a compromise, the Legislature passed, and Hughes signed, the Sales and Use Tax Act, which established a 3% state sales tax effective in July 1966.[3] Hughes said "that to turn down any broad-based tax would relegate the state to second-class status."[2]
Hughes was one of three final candidates considered by vice president and presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey to be the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1968.[7]
Chief justice, 1973–1979
After serving as governor from 1962 to 1970, he served as the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979, having been nominated for the post by his successor, William T. Cahill.[8] When Hughes was chief justice, the court issued a unanimous ruling in the Karen Ann Quinlan case, allowing an individual the right to refuse medical treatment and the right of a guardian to exercise that right if the patient cannot.[2]
Hughes had five sons, two daughters, and three stepsons. He married Miriam McGrory in 1935; they had four children. His first wife died in 1950; in 1955, he married Elizabeth Sullivan Murphy (died 1983), and they had three children.[2] In 1972, Hughes would contact then-senator Joseph Biden, who he had previously never met, to provide support and advise on how to cope with the unexpected and sudden death of his wife Neilia Hunter Biden.[10]
^ abcdefghijklmnStanley B. Winters, Governor Richard Hughes – Biography, The Governors of New Jersey: Biographical Essays (Reuters University Press, 2014): eds. Michael J. Birkner, Donald Linky & Peter Mickulas.
^"Ex-Judge Takes Lead in Democratic Race". The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey). Associated Press. February 10, 1961. p. 1. Retrieved October 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^Jaffe, Herb (January 25, 1973). "Tearful Hughes Mourns a Great Patriot". The Star-Ledger. p. 8.
^White, Theodore H. (1969). The Making of the President 1968. New York: Atheneum Publishers. p. 355.
^Schwaneberg, Robert (December 29, 2005). "A critical choice for Corzine: Naming chief justice–Poritz's mandatory retirement creates several scenarios for powerful post". The Star-Ledger. In October 1973, Chief Justice Pierre Garven, a Republican, died after less than two months in the post. Then-Gov. William T. Cahill was a lame duck, having been dumped by the Republican Party in the primary. Democrats won both the governor's office and control of the Senate in the November election. Cahill nominated his Democratic predecessor, Richard J. Hughes, who had been a judge before becoming governor.
Richard J. Hughes papers (The Monsignor Field Archives & Special Collection Center at Seton Hall University) - Contains the professional and personal papers of Richard J. Hughes covering his time as Governor of New Jersey to his tenure as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, primarily from the 1960s-1970s