Morris County’s Republican leaders have won the court battle.

Now, they hope to win the war.

That happens Saturday when there will be a vote – finally – on a proposal to institute a “county line” for Morris Republicans, which would enable party leaders to endorse candidates in primaries.

An overall aim here is to eliminate acrimonious primaries. But the reality is that the fight over creating a “line” has prompted a campaign as nasty as any recent GOP primary. Go figure.

That includes a suit.

John Sette and David Scapicchio, who are both former freeholders and who both oppose a line, filed suit last month to stop what was then a Jan. 16 convention to vote on creating one. Sette is also a former county Republican chair.

Part of their challenge had to do with not giving county committee members  two weeks notice as party bylaws require. Party leaders satisfied that requirement by changing the convention to Feb. 6. There were also concerns raised about the committee not providing contact info for voting members and a problem of email notification when some members don’t have email.

So the suit itself ensued and on Monday, the Morris County Republican Committee prevailed.

In a big way.

For one thing, state Superior Court Judge Maritza Berdote Byrne said that contrary to their assertions, the plaintiffs did have advance notice of the Jan. 16 meeting. Moreover, in ruling  in favor of the Republican committee, the judge said the plaintiffs must pay the committee’s legal fees. It noted that plaintiffs did not “have a good faith legal argument supporting their claims.”

Laura Ali, the county’s GOP chair, was understandably upbeat.

“We are pleased that the judge affirmed what we already knew and are looking forward to our meeting on Saturday where the county committee will finally have their voices heard,” she said.