After 17 historic years as the first woman to ever serve on New Jersey’s highest court, lifelong Hudson County resident and State Supreme Court Justice Justice Garibaldi will officially retire Feb. 1. Garibaldi is still five years away from the mandatory retirement age of 70, but feels the time is right now. Recently, Garibaldi, a Weehawken resident, sat in her chambers at the Brennan Court House, reflecting on her judicial career. “There’s no real reason for my retiring at this time,” Garibaldi said. “I really just wanted to have more time for myself and to take care of my mother [who recently suffered a broken hip]. I have to retire at the first of a month, so February 1 was it.” Garibaldi sent a letter to Gov. Christie Whitman last month stating her intention to retire. In the letter, Garibaldi addressed the honor she felt in serving on the Supreme Court, stating that she had “mixed emotions” about her decision. “I have had the unique opportunity to participate in important decisions that have affected the lives of the people of New Jersey,” the letter said. Garibaldi became a truly historic figure, the first woman to break the previously all-male gender barrier, setting a trend for the rest of time. “When you’re the first, you’re the first forever,” Garibaldi said. “I guess that will appear on my obituary. Seriously, I’m proud of that fact. I came on to an all-white male Supreme Court. Now, we have three women, one of whom is the chief justice [Deborah Poritz]. And there’s one African-American [James Coleman]. That’s one of the greatest changes I’ve seen.” Garibaldi also has made some historic rulings while on the bench. She upheld the death sentence imposed upon Jesse Timmendequas, the man convicted of murdering seven-year-old Megan Kanka. In 1990, Garibaldi ruled in Frank v. Ivy Club that Princeton University’s eating clubs’ rejection of female applicants violated the New Jersey law against discrimination. And in 1986, in the case State v. Gilmore, Garibaldi ruled that the exercise of challenging all prospective black jurors during jury selection was improperly based on group bias, rather than specific bias, and violated a defendant’s constitutional right to an impartial jury. Incredibly, Garibaldi had never had aspirations to ever serve as a judge. “I was never interested in being a judge,” Garibaldi said. “I loved the practice of law. I thought the law gave you the ability to be involved in a lot of different things.” After graduating from Columbia Law School, Garibaldi served as a primary tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service. “People think that working for the IRS only involves numbers,” Garibaldi said. “But tax law gets you involved in every aspect of law. It got me involved in banking, real estate, family court. I was able to follow the political direction of what the politicians did with taxes. It really gave me a wide spectrum of understanding the law.” During that time, Garibaldi was approached to become a Hudson County Superior Court judge, but kept turning down the offers. However, she did accept one offer