New Jersey supreme court allows grand jury to investigate clergy sexual abuse allegations

News comes after Catholic diocese in Camden tried for years to block such proceedings

New Jersey can have a grand jury examine allegations of clergy sexually abusing children, the state's supreme court ruled on Monday, after a Catholic diocese that had tried for years to block such proceedings recently reversed course.

The Camden diocese previously had argued that a court rule prevents the state attorney general from impaneling a grand jury to issue findings in the state's investigation into decades of allegations against church officials. But the diocese notified the court in early May that it would no longer oppose that. Camden bishop Joseph Williams, who took over the diocese in March, said he'd met with stakeholders in the diocese and there was unanimous consent to end the church's opposition to the grand jury.