the New Jersey Supreme Court's partisan balance. The stand-off between the governor and the New Jersey Senate resulted in longstanding vacancies, with temporarily assigned appellate judges filling in. Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey are nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. By tradition since the 1947 state constitution, the seven member court maintains a political balance and is composed of four members of either the Democratic Party or Republican Party and three of the other. Justices initially serve for seven years after which they have customarily received tenure and are able to serve until the mandatory retirement age of seventy. In what The New York Times called "a case of political overreach," Christie broke with this tradition in May 2010 when he chose not to renominate Justice John E. Wallace, Jr. and instead nominated attorney Anne M. Patterson. Christie said that he thought the court "had inappropriately encroached on both the executive and legislative function, and that if elected governor, I would take steps through the decisions I made regarding the court to bring back an appropriate constitutional balance to the court." New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney refused to consider any nominee to Wallace's seat. Eventually Christie and Sweeney reached a deal in May 2011. When Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto announced he would step down when his term expired in September 2011 Christie nominated Patterson to replace him. The Senate unanimously confirmed Patterson on June 28, 2011, and she was sworn in on September 1, 2011. On January 23, 2012, Christie filed the nomination of Bruce Harris and Philip Kwon. In March, Kwon's nomination was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first gubernatorial nominee for the Supreme Court in modern times to fail to be approved. In May, the Judiciary Committee rejected Harris' nomination, purportedly because he lacked courtroom experience. In December 2012, Christie nominated David F. Bauman. and Robert Hanna. Hanna received no confirmation hearing and in January 2014, Christie withdrew the nomination. Baumen received no confirmation hearing. In August 2013, Christie declined to nominate Helen E. Hoens for lifetime tenure saying "I simply could not be party to the destruction of Helen Hoens's professional reputation. I was not going to let her loose to the animals." Christie instead nominated Faustino J. Fernandez-Vina on September 30, 2013, and following confirmation by the New Jersey Senate was sworn on November 19, 2013. In