Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Stuart Rabner
2007 - Present
2030
18
Stuart Rabner is the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He assumed office on June 29, 2007. His current term ends on June 30, 2030.
In New Jersey, the position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court (similar to the Supreme Court of the United States) rather than a peer-selected leadership position. Gov. Jon Corzine (D) nominated Rabner as chief justice on June 4, 2007, to succeed retiring Chief Justice James R. Zazzali.[1] Gov. Chris Christie (R) nominated Rabner for tenure in 2014.[2] To read more about judicial selection in New Jersey, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Rabner received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Rabner received a bachelor's degree from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1982 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1985. After law school, he clerked for Judge Dickinson Debevoise of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.[5]
Rabner worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, New Jersey, from 1986 to 2005, including as first assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the criminal division. In January 2006, he became chief counsel to Gov. Jon Corzine (D). Corzine nominated him as New Jersey attorney general in August 2006 and as chief justice of the supreme court in June 2007.[6][7][1]
Appointments
New Jersey Supreme Court
Governor Jon Corzine (D) nominated Rabner as chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court on June 4, 2007, to succeed retiring Chief Justice James R. Zazzali.[1] The New Jersey state Senate confirmed Rabner on June 21, and he was sworn in on June 29, 2007.[8][5]
Governor Chris Christie (R) renominated Rabner on May 21, 2014, granting him tenure. Rabner's renomination was accompanied by the nomination of Lee A. Solomon to the court as part of a compromise between Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D).[2] The New Jersey state Senate confirmed Rabner on June 19, 2014.[9] He was sworn in on June 20, 2014.[5]
New Jersey Attorney General
Governor Jon Corzine (D) nominated Rabner as Attorney General of New Jersey on August 24, 2006.[7] He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on September 26, 2006.[6]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Stuart
Rabner
New Jersey
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Direct gubernatorial appointment - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Democrat
- Was a registered Democrat
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
Partisan Profile
Details:
Rabner was Chief Legal Counsel to Gov. Jon Corzine (D) from 2006 through 2007. He was a registered Democrat prior to 2020. He donated $25 to Democratic candidates.
Other Scores:
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Rabner received a campaign finance score of -0.67, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of 0.05 that justices received in New Jersey.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[12]
State supreme court judicial selection in New Jersey
- See also: Judicial selection in New Jersey
The seven justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court are selected by gubernatorial appointment. The governor's nominee must be confirmed by the New Jersey state Senate.[13][14]
Justices serve an initial term of seven years after appointment. If renominated by the governor and confirmed for reappointment by the Senate, they may serve on the court until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70.[13][14]
Qualifications
To be eligible to serve on the supreme court, a person must have been admitted to practice law in New Jersey for at least 10 years.[14]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court is selected by gubernatorial appointment. The position of chief justice is a specific seat on the court rather than a temporary leadership position.[14]
Vacancies
Vacancies on the court are filled through gubernatorial appointment. The governor's nominee must be confirmed by the state Senate.[15]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The New York Times, "Both Parties Expect Corzine’s Choice for Chief Justice to Be a Fair and Moderate Voice," June 5, 2007
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Philadelphia Inquirer, "In deal, Christie renominates Chief Justice Rabner and names Lee Solomon to court," May 21, 2014
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 New Jersey Courts, "Chief Justice Stuart Rabner," accessed July 18, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 State of New Jersey Office of the Governor, "Stuart Rabner," accessed July 18, 2021
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 New Jersey Hills Media Group, "Rabner of Caldwell nominated to serve as attorney general," September 1, 2006
- ↑ The New York Times, "After One Objection, Senate Confirms Corzine’s Choice for Chief Justice," June 22, 2007
- ↑ The Philadelphia Inquirer, "N.J. Senate confirms Rabner, Solomon on high court," June 19, 2014
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 New Jersey Courts, "The New Jersey Courts | A guide to the judicial process," accessed August 27, 2021
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 New Jersey Legislature, "New Jersey State Constitution 1947," accessed August 27, 2021 (Article VI Section II)
- ↑ New Jersey Legislature, "New Jersey State Constitution 1947," accessed August 27, 2021 (Article V Section I)
Federal courts:
Third Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Jersey • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Jersey
State courts:
New Jersey Supreme Court • New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division • New Jersey Superior Courts • New Jersey Municipal Courts • New Jersey Tax Court
State resources:
Courts in New Jersey • New Jersey judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Jersey
