Gov. Phil Murphy will nominate former acting state Attorney General John Jay Hoffman to be New Jersey‘s next Supreme Court justice, according to Murphy administration officials.
Appointed by the then governor. Chris Christie, Hoffman held the top law enforcement position in New Jersey from June 2013 to March 2016, making him the longest serving attorney general in state history. He currently serves as general counsel and senior vice president at Rutgers University, where he has worked since 2016.
A confirmation would mean Murphy had selected five of the high court’s seven justices, the most since Gov. Christie Whitman in the 1990s. Hoffman, who lives in Burlington County, would fill the seat of Lee Solomon, a Republican who this year is reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.
Murphy’s office issued a news release Saturday saying the Democratic governor would “make an important announcement” in Trenton on Monday.
John Jay Hoffman’s record as acting attorney general
During the Christie years, Hoffman was known for fighting organized crime and car theft rings. He also overhauled state procedures for investigating police shootings, instituted body cameras for the New Jersey State Police and oversaw the prosecutions of fraudulent claims for Superstorm Sandy relief. Additionally, he spearheaded programs to combat opioid abuse. That included efforts to prevent prescription drug misuse and distribute Narcan, an overdose antidote, to law enforcement agencies across the state, according to his biography on Rutgers’ website.
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There were also controversies, including his handling of Bridgegate, the scandal involving politically motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. Hoffman, after turning the investigation over to federal authorities, was criticized for being overly deferential to Chris Christie, whose pleasure he served. His office also came under fire in 2015 when he decided to settle a $9 billion environmental lawsuit against ExxonMobil for $225 million.
Before being named acting attorney general, Hoffman led the Investigations Division of the State Comptroller’s Office, a function focused on fighting government waste, fraud and abuse. He also served as a trial attorney for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice and as an assistant U.S. attorney for New Jersey, where he focused on economic and white collar prosecutions.
Hoffman received his undergraduate degree in 1987 from Colgate University and his law degree in 1992 from Duke University School of Law.
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