Murphy Nominates Rachel Wainer Apter To NJ Supreme Court

NEW JERSEY - Gov. Phil Murphy has selected a nominee to serve New Jersey’s highest court, slated to fill the seat Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia will leave behind later this year (watch the full nomination announcement below):

Last week, Lavecchia, 66, announced her plans to retire from her position by August 31. During a press conference Monday, Murphy announced the associate justice nominee as Rachel Wainer Apter, the current director of the Division of Civil Rights in the New Jersey Attorney General's office. The division is the agency responsible for enforcing the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the nation’s oldest anti-discrimination law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability and other protected characteristics.

Honored to nominate Rachel Wainer Apter to the New Jersey Supreme Court. As Director of @CivilRightsNJ, Rachel has been a champion for equal rights. I know she will continue to serve all New Jerseyans on our state’s highest court.https://t.co/UYD6Flnwpd pic.twitter.com/ovGmjzdaZB
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) March 15, 2021

Wainer Apter is an Englewood resident and a native of Rockaway Township. She is a Morris Hills High School and University of Pennsylvania graduate with a J.D. from Harvard Law. The nominee once clerked for the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The nomination announcement was made at Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall at Rutgers University–Newark, on what would’ve been the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice’s 88th birthday.

“In the wake of Justice Ginsburg’s passing, the advances in civil rights that she spent a lifetime fighting for are under threat in Washington,” Murphy said. “State courts have never mattered more, and I am honored to nominate Rachel Wainer Apter, who clerked for Justice Ginsburg and followed in her footsteps as a civil rights lawyer, to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Over the past few years, Rachel has defended New Jersey’s DREAMers in federal court, drove Facebook to confront hate speech on its platform, and proposed reforms to prevent sexual harassment. I know she will continue to serve all New Jerseyans on our state’s highest court.”

Wainer Apter previously served as a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Deputy Police Director for Law and Justice as part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s transition team in 2017. She also served as Counsel to the Attorney General, advising on civil rights and immigration matters, including leading the New Jersey team that defeated a motion by several states to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

“Serving on the NJ Supreme Court is the most important trust that can be placed in a lawyer in this state,” Wainer Apter said during the announcement. “The cases that the Supreme Court hears concern issues of fundamental importance to the state and to all of us as individuals, including how our society will live up to the promise of equal justice under the law. The New Jersey Supreme Court also has a distinguished tradition of independence, fairness, and integrity. I would be honored to be able to continue that tradition.”

Wainer Apter was unanimously recommended by the judicial advisory panel, whose members include two former chief justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Pending approval from the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, Murphy will send his nomination to the state senate.

You can watch Murphy’s remarks below:

Announcing a Supreme Court nomination. WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/OBrPx3jik2
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) March 15, 2021

Associate Justice LaVecchia announced her retirement plans on March 8, citing a desire to seek out “what new professional opportunities may lie ahead,” as well as the flexibility to “enjoy more time with my family.” The justice was nominated to the court by former Republican Gov. Christie Whitman in 2000. She has often been considered an independent justice on the court.

Three Republicans and three Democrats also serve on the seven-member court.

In a statement, Murphy commended LaVecchia, the longest-serving female justice in state history, for bringing "independence & integrity" to the court.

“For the past 21 years, Justice LaVecchia has served on the New Jersey Supreme Court with independence & integrity, becoming the longest-serving female Justice in state history,” Murphy said. “I wish her all the best in her next life chapters & thank her for service to the people of New Jersey.”

In 2020, Murphy nominated Fabiana Pierre-Louis to the court. Pierre-Louis, 40, is the third Black justice and the first Black woman to serve on the state Supreme Court. Pierre-Louis replaced Justice Walter Timpone, who was nearing the state’s mandatory retirement age of 70.