Stuart Jeff Rabner (born June 30, 1960) is the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He served as New Jersey Attorney General, chief counsel to Governor Jon Corzine, and as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey.
Biography
Rabner grew up in Passaic, New Jersey, and graduated from Passaic High School in 1978, where he was the class valedictorian. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1982 after completing a 172-page long senior thesis titled "A Commitment Compromised: The Treatment of Nazi War Criminals by the United States Government." He then graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1985. He is a resident of Caldwell, New Jersey. He was married in 1989 to Dr. Deborah Ann Wiener, and has three children: Erica, Carly, and Jack. In June 2007, he was named the most influential political personality in the state of New Jersey. In 2010, his name was proposed as a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Associate Justice John Paul Stevens.
Appointment as Chief Justice
On June 4, 2007, Governor Corzine nominated Rabner to be Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, replacing James R. Zazzali, who was nearing the mandatory retirement age.
Shortly after the nomination, two members of the New Jersey Senate from Essex County, where Rabner resides, blocked consideration of his confirmation by invoking "senatorial courtesy", a Senate tradition that allows home county legislators to intercede to prevent consideration of a nominee from the counties they represent. State Senator Ronald Rice had initially blocked the nomination, but relented on June 15, 2007, after a meeting with the governor. Senator Nia Gill dropped her block on June 19, 2007, but did not initially explain the nature of concerns.
With the senators permitting consideration of his nomination, Rabner was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Gill casting the only negative vote. On June 21, 2007, the New Jersey Senate confirmed Rabner as Chief Justice by a 36–1 vote, with Gill again casting the lone dissenting vote.
Rabner was sworn in as chief justice on June 29, 2007, with acting Chief Justice Virginia Long administering the oath of office. On May 21, 2014, Governor Chris Christie renominated Rabner as chief justice despite their political differences, after a compromise was reached with State Senate Democrats, breaking a longstanding impasse over Supreme Court appointments. The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed the nomination on June 14, 2014.
Attorney general
Rabner served as Attorney General of New Jersey in the cabinet of Governor Jon Corzine. He took office as attorney general on September 26, 2006. Rabner was nominated by Governor Corzine on August 24, 2006, to replace former Attorney General Zulima Farber who resigned and left office on August 31, 2006.
Other positions
After beginning his career as an assistant United States attorney, Rabner worked in a number of positions including first assistant United States attorney and chief of the terrorism unit in the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He was chief of the office's criminal division and supervised 100 attorneys and staff, when he was named chief counsel to Governor Corzine in January 2006. He was viewed as a surprise choice for the chief counsel position, as it traditionally goes to individuals with strong political connections and not to career prosecutors. Rabner began his legal career as a judicial law clerk to Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey before joining the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey in Newark in 1986.
Decisions
Chief Justice Rabner authored significant decisions regarding, among other issues, eyewitness identification, the right to privacy, marriage equality, juvenile justice, government transparency, the separation of church and state, fairness in jury selection, and protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.