New Jersey Supreme Court Justice-designate John Jay Hoffman has picked up the backing of a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, State Sen. Joseph Lagana (D-Paramus).
“I applaud Governor Murphy’s nomination of John Hoffman to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Mr. Hoffman has an outstanding legal career and a well-established record of exceptional public service,” Lagana told the New Jersey Globe. “He will make an excellent associate justice to what I consider to be the most respected courts in our nation. I look forward to the confirmation hearing.”
Murphy nominated Hoffman, a former acting New Jersey attorney general and the general counsel at Rutgers University, to serve as an associate justice on Monday. He is slated to replace Lee Solomon, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 on August 17.
Solomon participated in his last oral argument in May.
Murphy hopes to have Hoffman confirmed by the time the Supreme Court begins its next term in September.
Lagana is the fourth senator to announce their support of Hoffman; Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Brian P. Stack, and State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) are already on board.
Hoffman’s first hurdle is support from his home county senators, Troy Singleton (D-Delran) and Latham Tiver (R-Southampton). Under the Senate’s unwritten rule of senatorial courtesy, a nomination can’t be considered by the Judiciary Committee without Singleton and Tiver signing off.
The Judiciary Committee has eleven members; Hoffman now has three of the six votes he needs to win the panel’s approval.
