Vital Republican Becomes Vocal Champion of New Jersey Court Pick

A Republican legislator could have been a roadblock.

Instead, Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s savvy pick for his latest state Supreme Court nominee turned a potential opponent into the nominee’s champion. Murphy selected the law firm partner of a senior GOP senator for the spot.

Michael Noriega is poised to become the state’s first former public defender justice. And his nomination was a deft political maneuver that avoided a drawn out process that delayed Murphy’s last high court nomination for nearly two years due to New Jersey’s unwritten—but ironclad—senatorial privilege.

A senator whose district includes the county where a nominee lives can block that nomination, extracting deals with the governor or outright prohibiting a vote on an appointee.

Noriega has three “home” senators. Two are Democrats, and the third is Sen. Jon M. Bramnick, the ranking Republican on the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee and a named partner at the firm where Noriega works: Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas, Arnold & Mangan LLC.

“It was a brilliant move,” said Ronald Chen, a professor and former dean of Rutgers University School of Law. Chen went through his own nomination process—including the tradition of speaking with all of his home county senators—when he was appointed to Public Advocate of New Jersey by Gov. Jon S. Corzine in 2006.

“The system has been a thorn in the side of governors for generations,” he said. “We’re not going to get rid of it because it’s to the senators’ advantage to maintain it.”

‘Incredible Work Ethic’

Bramnick said that Noriega’s character, experience, and personal story make him a great selection for the state’s high court.

“He has a great feeling for the law. He has an incredible work ethic,” said Bramnick.

At his nomination, Noriega recalled how his parents left careers as doctors in Peru and immigrated to the United States to seek a better life for their children.

After law school at Seton Hall, Noriega started at the public defenders office in 2003. At his speech, he recalled losing his first case and his client patting him on the back and saying, “It’s OK, at least you tried.”

From there Noriega built up a career as a trial lawyer, focusing on criminal and immigration law.

“I hope that I have done more than try in this career,” he said during his May 15 nomination announcement. “I pray and hope that I have had a sincere positive impact on our legal system and the lives of the people that I have represented over these past 20 years.”

Bramnick said Noriega is “one of the finest people I’ve ever met in my life.”

“If you talk to anyone about Mike Noriega, they say, ‘I love Mike Noriega,’” Bramnick said.

Partisan Balance

In addition to the unwritten code of senatorial privilege, Noriega’s nomination also falls in-line with New Jersey’s observance of partisan balance on the court.

With this pick, Murphy will maintain the balance, which per the state tradition allows the majority party of the state Legislature—right now Democrats—a four-three bench advantage, Chen said.

Noriega’s appointment is also unlikely to make waves for two other reasons.

First, while Noriega is the state’s first public defender justice, New Jersey already has strong state constitutional protections for criminal defendants that state courts have interpreted more robustly than federal protections, said Matthew S. Adams, president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, and friend of Noriega. So having Noriega on the bench is unlikely to shift law in that regard.

And second, though Noriega has no prior judicial experience, that’s common for practitioners named to New Jersey’s Supreme Court. Four of the current justices have no prior judicial experience, and Noriega has the experience and temperament for the job, Adams said.

“The court has to represent all of the citizenry of the State of New Jersey. That doesn’t just mean individuals who have access to whatever lawyer they want and access to whatever resources they need. It also includes the public defenders who do the important work in the trenches day in and day out, often times under enormous constraints,” Adams said.

“For someone on the Supreme Court to have that perspective is invaluable.”