Morris Pashman

Morris Pashman (September 27, 1912 – October 3, 1999) was a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and before that a judge on New Jersey Superior Court and Mayor of Passaic, New Jersey. On the New Jersey Supreme Court, Pashman issued opinions in two major murder cases, advocated for the equal citizenship rights of the mentally handicapped and was one of the few dissenting votes objecting to the jailing of a reporter who refused to turn over his notes in a murder case.

Early life and career Pashman was born in Passaic on September 27, 1912, and attended Passaic High School, before moving on to New York University and the University of Michigan. He graduated from Rutgers School of Law—Newark in 1936.

After spending time in private practice, Pashman was named in 1946 to serve in Passaic on its police court, and later on its municipal court. Elected Mayor of Passaic in 1951, he served until 1955 and then served as city commissioner and director of revenue and finance. The decision was overturned, and Pashman would later call his actions in the case an "aberration," saying that "I think every judge or justice is entitled to one."

In the 1978 "Dr. X" murder trial of Mario Jascalevich, Judge Theodore Trautwein had ordered that reporter M. A. Farber of The New York Times be sent to jail for refusing to turn over notes to the defense attorney. When Farber was about to be jailed, his attorneys filed for an emergency stay on a weekend and Pashman arrived in his golfing attire to grant the stay. When the full court heard the case the next day, Pashman was the only dissenter as the court upheld the lower court ruling and ordered that Farber serve time in jail. When the court reaffirmed the lower court action in a decision in September 1978, Pashman and fellow Justice Alan B. Handler were the only dissenters.

Pashman reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 1982. He was survived by a daughter, a son, four grandsons, and three great-grandchildren.