NJ Top Cop Reflects on His Big Swings at Trump, Guns, Corruption

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin (D) has picked a lot of fights. He’s fought with the president, with state politicians of both parties, and with policing units he oversees. He even flipped sides in a legal battle that went against the governor who appointed him.

But as he looks back at his nearly four years in office—the longest tenure in the state in decades—he said he doesn’t regret any of the fights.

“We built up the culture of being unafraid to take on big fights on behalf of our residents,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Law. “We haven’t backed down just because they’re big and powerful.”

On the federal level, his office has challenged President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship policy and leveled an antitrust challenge to Apple. On the home front, he’s brought political corruption cases that rankled party leaders on both sides of the aisle, especially when those cases were tossed.

His backers say the toes Platkin stepped on show his worth. Former New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey, now partner at Patterson Belknap, said the state constitution created this office with for-cause removal, and the legislature empowered the office with anti-corruption enforcement to give the top cop independence.

“Everybody says they want an independent attorney general who is outside of politics and the governor’s influence, except some don’t like it when it happens in real life,” he said.

While he’s hunted for whales, some of his attempts—like his failed racketeering indictment South Jersey political boss George Norcross—have come up empty. That helped lead to a failed impeachment effort this year from legislative Republicans.

“He was plucked from obscurity and made the chief law enforcement officer in the land, and his inexperience and incompetence have been glaring,” said state Sen. Michael L. Testa Jr. (R).

Taking On Trump

Despite dust-ups with fellow Democrats, including South Jersey political boss George Norcross, liberals have praised Platkin’s suits against Trump.

His office has launched at least 43 suits against the president since January, often joining with fellow Democratic attorneys general. He said his office has won 23 of the 25 resolved cases.

It’s a marked change from the Biden years, though Platkin’s team said they sued that administration over congestion pricing, a US Postal Service fleet purchase, and regulations over residential wood heaters and aircraft emissions.

“Matt’s done a hell of a job,” said Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who appointed Platkin and formerly employed him in the governor’s office. “In particular, I have to say, fighting the Trump administration, where he’s led with great force and stature.”

That comment came even after Platkin went against Murphy, flipping in federal litigation challenging the state’s primary ballot design. After originally defending the law, Platkin said the state’s rules were unconstitutional—rules that could have helped state First Lady Tammy Murphy in an effort to become a US Senator.

“That takes a certain amount of courage, and this is a time when people are hungry for both independence and courage,” said Yael Bromberg, an election law professor at American University Washington College of Law who litigated that case. “He was the right person for the job.”

Public Safety

Platkin made public safety and going after the firearm industry a focus, but shifting tides in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit threaten to undo some of it.

He formed a squad aimed at becoming the most aggressive litigators against the gun industry, and he’s defended New Jersey’s restrictive gun laws in court. Platkin touted in an interview an over 50% decrease in shootings since 2021, but firearms owners say his office is violating federal law.

He’s “abused his powers to declare ‘lawfare’ on law-abiding businesses and has wasted taxpayer money by supporting the pursuit of political objectives, unconstitutional laws, and lawsuits both in New Jersey and in other states,” the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners board of trustees said in a statement.

Even though he’s undefeated defending the state’s gun laws in the Third Circuit, a new conservative majority angles to potentially strike the state’s “sensitive places” and assault weapons bans via en banc rehearings.

Observers say Platkin also created tension with law enforcement, citing his taking over the city of Paterson’s police force after an activist was killed by officers, and hiring a former US Attorney to investigate state police traffic stop policy.

Big Tech, Corruption

Platkin sees taking on big business and public corruption as two sides of the same coin.

“I think in New Jersey too often people have gotten that special treatment, and I haven’t done that,” he said.

His office launched a pair of labor suits targeting Amazon this fall, one a novel case claiming the company systematically discriminates against workers with disabilities and pregnancy by denying accommodations. He’s also brought cases against TikTok and Discord alleging these platforms harm New Jersey kids.

But big swings can create big misses. The dismissals against Norcross and prominent Rabbi Osher Eisemann for money laundering have concerned Platkin’s critics

Lee Vartan, a member at CSG Law and defense attorney in those prosecutions, said the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability under Platkin has won about half its cases, whereas prosecutors’ offices generally win 90% of the time.

“I have had multiple cases opposite the OPIA, and in nearly every one, prosecutors failed to investigate, over charged, committed clear acts of prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury, and withheld exculpatory information from the defense,” said Vartan. “That was on Platkin’s watch, and he did nothing to fix the problem. In fact, he refused to even acknowledge there was a problem.”

Platkin said the Norcross case isn’t over yet; his appeal of the dismissal is before the state appellate division.

“Show me a prosecutor who has never had a case not go exactly as they’ve planned and I’ll show you someone who has never brought a tough case,” he said.