In a huge win for clergy abuse survivors, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that a grand jury investigation into sexual abuse in the catholic church can move forward.

Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote, “The State has the right to proceed with its investigation and present evidence before a special grand jury. If the grand jury issues a presentment, the assignment judge should review the report and publish it if it complies with… legal standards.”

The ruling is welcome news to clergy abuse survivors and advocates who had been fighting for transparency.

“I am elated to see the NJ Supreme Court found that no institution or organization which deals with the public should be able to conceal crimes committed against children, putting others at risk,” says Mark Crawford, a clergy abuse survivor who went on to form the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “Secrecy and silence are the glue that allows sexual abuse to thrive.”

The New Jersey attorney general first announced the grand jury investigation in 2018, after former New Jersey Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and other clergy members were publicly accused of sexual abuse.

News 12's Senior Investigative Reporter Walt Kane investigated the McCarrick case as part of News 12’s docuseries “Crime Files.”

But as Kane In Your Corner reported, the Diocese of Camden successfully blocked the investigation in court, and because a lower court sealed the records, the court battle had been playing out in secret.

In a written statement, First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay V. Ruotolo says: “We are grateful for the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision this morning confirming what we have maintained throughout this lengthy court battle: that there was no basis to stop the State from pursuing a grand jury presentment on statewide sexual abuse by clergy and the conditions that allowed it to go unchecked for so long.”

Ruotolo adds: “We remain as committed today as throughout these past seven years to doing all we can to support survivors and advance the healing they deserve.”