May 1, 2009 - 7:52am
Inside Edge

Could N.J.'s Fuentes be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court?

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.

The last open seat on the U.S. Supreme Court when to another New Jerseyan from the Third Circuit, Samuel Alito.

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.