WASHINGTON – US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today released the following statement on President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice:

One New Jerseyan that could make the list of potential successors to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter is Julio Fuentes, a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  If Barack Obama picked the 63-year-old Puerto Rico native, Fuentes would become the first Hispanic to serve on the nation’s top court.

Fuentes grew up in Toms River, and served eight years as a Newark Municipal Court Judge and thirteen years as a Superior Court Judge in Essex County before President Bill Clinton nominated him to the Third Circuit in 1999.

Senator Diane Allen introduces vitally important legislation aimed at preventing violent gang members from escaping justice.

BUONO: 'COURT RULING VALIDATES NEW SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA'

EDISON – Senator Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, the Chairwoman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and author of the legislation establishing a new school funding formula, issued the following statement today regarding Bergen County Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne’s finding that the new funding formula provides for the “thorough and efficient” education to which every child in New Jersey has a right:

“Today’s ruling regarding the new school funding formula is welcome news for New Jersey families. Judge Doyne’s recommendations validate the year-old formula and represent a significant step toward more equitably funding school districts throughout the State.

MERKT: NEW JERSEY NEEDS A NEW HIGH COURT
ATTRIBUTES POLICY BLUNDERS TO ACTIVIST JUDGES
VOWS TO RESHAPE SUPREME COURT AS GOVERNOR

SUPREME COURT'S SECOND AMENDMENT RULING A JUDICIAL MISFIRE

(WEST ORANGE) - Assemblyman John F. McKeon, a longtime proponent of handgun control laws, today blasted a United States Supreme Court ruling creating a blanket right to gun ownership and limiting the ability of state and local lawmakers to enact sensible gun control measures.

New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Virginia Long has four years left before she reaches the mandatory retirement age of seventy, but there is some speculation in higher echelon political circles that she will retire early – opening up another Supreme Court appointment for Gov. Jon Corzine before he seeks re-election in November 2009.  Long turns 70 in March 2012.

Lautenberg Issues Statement on Supreme Court Deliberation of Exxon Valdez Case