Peter T. Zarella

Justice Peter T. Zarella is an Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court [http://www.jud.state.ct.us/external/supapp/justice11.html] . He was appointed by former Governor John G. Rowland in January 2001. Justice Zarella is the former chair of the Connecticut Criminal Justice Commission [http://www.das.state.ct.us/Digest/Digest_2004/Criminal%20Justice%20Commission.htm] and the current chair of the Rules Committee which has responsibility for proposing revisions to the rules of the Superior Court.

In 2004 Justice Zarella authored the minority opinion (joined by then Chief Justice William J. Sullivan and Associate Justice Joette Katz) in the important Kelo v. New London case, which was subsequently heard by the United States Supreme Court. The state court sided with the city in an en banc 4-3 decision, with the majority opinion authored by Justice Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. and joined by Justices David M. Borden, Richard N. Palmer and Christine S. Vertefeuille. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Connecticut Supreme Court's decision in favor of the city, in a 5-4 decision, with the dissent written by Justice O'Connor and joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas. The Kelo decision is studied as a continuation of the expansion of governments' power to seize property through eminent domain, although the widespread negative popular reaction has spurred a backlash in which many state legislatures have curtailed their eminent domain power.

On March 24, 2006 Justice Zarella was nominated by Governor M. Jodi Rell to replace Chief Justice William J. Sullivan, who had announced his retirement [http://www.ct.gov/governorrell/cwp/view.asp?A=2425&Q=311396] scheduled for April 15, 2005. The Connecticut Supreme Court became embroiled in a lengthy ethics scandal, however, when the Hartford Courant revealed that retiring Chief Justice William J. Sullivan postponed the publication of a controversial decision opposing Freedom of Information Act requests for documents that track the status and history of legal cases in the Connecticut legal system until hearings for his proposed successor, Justice Zarella, were completed [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/1221209801.html?dids=1221209801:1221209801&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+22%2C+2007&author=EDMUND+H.+MAHONY&pub=Hartford+Courant&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=CONTRITE+SULLIVAN+ADMITS+MISTAKE+] . Both justices ruled in favor of the restrictions. Legislators speculated that Sullivan delayed the publication of the court's opinion because he feared it might damage Zarella's chances of becoming Chief Justice. This was subsequently confirmed in testimony by Sullivan [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/nyregion/22court.html?ei=5124&en=61add651a6ac3bb6&ex=1329886800&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&pagewanted=all] . In April 2006 Governor Rell withdrew Zarella's nomination to be Chief Justice at his request after these revelations [http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/04/24/zarella_wants_rell_to_withdraw_his_nomination_for_chief_justice/] .