Overview

• The New Jersey Supreme Court is hearing Attorney General Matt Platkin's appeal to empanel a grand jury to investigate clergy sexual abuse allegations against the Diocese of Camden.
• The diocese contends that state law limits grand jury investigations to public officials, not private church entities, and has successfully blocked the probe in lower courts.
• Unsealed court documents reveal 550 calls reporting abuse from the 1940s to the present were made to a state hotline established by the task force in 2018.
• The Diocese of Camden previously settled approximately 300 abuse claims for $87.5 million in 2022, following a wave of lawsuits enabled by New Jersey’s expanded statute of limitations for survivors.
• The case tests the balance between church autonomy and state authority, with potential implications for future investigations into private institutions.