Ex-Union Co. Judge Barred From Job After Lying Under Oath, State Says

NEW JERSEY - A former Superior Court judge based in Union County is permanently barred from sitting on the bench in New Jersey again after the state supreme court upheld a judicial conduct committee’s recommendations to bar the official.

The supreme court order, issued Wednesday, concurred with an Aug. 23 report from the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct finding that Superior Court judge Theresa E. Mullen, a judge in the family court division since 2014, violated her duties according to the Code of Judicial Conduct. According to the report, Mullen lied under oath, abused her official position and showed a lack of candor by refusing to leave school premises after her daughters were told to not come back to their school in 2017.

“When faced with the consequences of her trespass, [Mullen] lied under oath,” the 2022 report from the special panel reads, noting that Mullen’s accounts diverged significantly from the accounts of witnesses. “She has blamed everyone but herself for her predicament … “[Mullen] expresses no regret for these events, and does not acknowledge committing any wrong.”

An initial complaint naming Mullen was filed with the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct in May 2018 after Mullen refused to leave her daughters’ former school, which they were expelled from due to ongoing litigation between the Scotch Plains family and the school.

Mullen’s husband Scott Phillips initially sued their daughters’ school, St. Theresa School in Kenilworth, in December 2016, ordering their eldest daughter to be instated to the boys’ basketball team after the girls’ team was disbanded. While a judge did grant the student the ability to play on the boys’ team, the school requested both daughters to “immediately” leave the school in February 2017 pursuant to a provision in the parent/student handbook barring families who pursue litigation with the institution.

Mullen still showed up to the school with her daughters on Feb. 2, 2017, according to the complaint, refusing to leave the premises and refuting that she was “denying the school’s request” that her children not come back to St. Theresa School.

Mullen also repeatedly stated that if the police wanted to arrest her and her children for trespassing, ‘they can go ahead and do that,’” according to the complaint. Kenilworth police ultimately removed the family from the school, court records show.

Her tenure on the bench ended in 2021 after she failed to be renominated by Gov. Phil Murphy.

In a written opinion finding Mullen guilty of trespassing in February 2018, a judge described Mullen as “combative and evasive on the stand, and that her statements about her understanding of the [expulsion] letter and the import of the signed acknowledgement further undermine her credibility.”

The 2022 special panel also found Mullen not credible, writing that the ex-judge had inconsistent testimony throughout proceedings.

“Respondent's refusal to take responsibility, and stunning lack of remorse, demonstrate there is no hope she could exercise better judgment in the future,” the 2022 panel report added.

“Removal is the only option to preserve public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.”

Request for comment from Mullen was not immediately returned.