a 7-year battle over allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy has landed in the state's highest court where justices will decide whether a grand jury can investigate decades of alleged abuse by Catholic priests and whether the church tried to cover it up new Jersey Supreme Court on Monday grilled attorneys for the Catholic Dascese of Camden and the Attorney General's Office debating the laws about about when and how a grand jury can be used and if it has the right to look into private entities like a church or if it's limited to government officials or agencies now the issue dates back to 2019 when then Attorney General Gerbier Greywall vowed to investigate clergy sexual abuse within all five of the state's Catholic dascese the Camden Dascese though contested filing suit to stall the investigation ever since lower court judges sided with the church and sealed the case allowing the legal fight to continue in secrecy for six years the attorney general's office appealed and on Monday argued appellet judges shortcircuited the legal fight before it could even begin attorneys for the dascese maintain they aren't trying to hide past offenses but that private entities should be off limits a final decision could be days or weeks away