Anne Milgram

There have been discussions between the Governor's office and two African American State Senators who aren't necessarily happy with the Corzine administration's record of promoting minority candidates for judicial and law enforcement posts.  While Democratic insiders predict that Stuart Rabner will be confirmed as Chief Justice and that Anne Milgram will win confirmation as Attorney General, sources say that the administration is finding some small bumps in the road. 

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            TRENTON –  Senator John H. Adler, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today praised the nominations by Governor Cozine of Attorney General Stuart Rabner to become Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court and of First Assistant Attorney General Anne Milgram to succeed Rabner as the State’s top law enforcement officer.

WATSON COLEMAN WELCOMES MILGRAM'S PLEDGE
TO MAKE COMBATING GANGS A TOP PRIORITY

(TRENTON) - Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman today praised state Attorney General-designate Anne Milgram's pledge to make combating the rise in street gang activity and violence one of her top priorities.

ROBERTS STATEMENT ON RABNER, MILGRAM NOMINATIONS

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., today issued the following statement of support for Stuart Rabner as New Jersey's next Supreme Court Chief Justice and Anne Milgram as the next state Attorney General:

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New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Photos
Stuart Rabner will be the next Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and Anne Milgram will replace him as Attorney General, according to several sources close to Gov. Jon Corzine.

Insiders predict an easy confirmation for both, especially Rabner, who has won high praise from leaders of both parties.

Chief Justice James Zazzali must step down in October, when he reaches the mandatory age of seventy. If nominated and confirmed, the 47-year-old Rabner would become the youngest Chief Justice since Pierre Garven in 1973. He could potentially run the state judiciary system for the next 23 years.

Democratic insiders speculate that the two leading candidates for Attorney General are the two lawyers who might be closest to Governor Jon Corzine these days: his Chief Counsel, Stuart Rabner; and First Assistant Attorney General Anne Milgram, who served as Corzine's Counsel in the United States Senate. Both are former federal prosecutors who have no real ties to the state's political establishment.

The conventional wisdom among Trenton insiders is that Rabner was headed for the Supreme Court -- especially if Corzine elevates James Zazzali to Chief Justice when Deborah Poritz retires this year. Zazzali, at age 69, would get one year as Chief before he reaches the mandatory retirement age, giving Corzine the ability to maintain the partisan balance of the court by appointing a Republican to fill Zazzali's old seat and then making Rabner Chief Justice in 2007. Rabner, who probably didn't enjoy the state budget crisis, could spend a year as Attorney General -- with Milgram waiting in the wings to replace him then.