Rabner
TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey Attorney General Stuart Rabner is expected to be moving behind the bench when Gov. Jon Corzine announces his nomination for a vacant Supreme Court spot.
An anonymous high-ranking official said the announcement would be made Monday, according to a report by The Associated Press.
Last August, Corzine nominated Rabner for the Attorney General's office, replacing Zulima Farber. Rabner's appointment was made official with a 35-0 vote by the state's Senate.
If the Senate again approves of him, Rabner will become the Court's chief justice for the next 25 years. He would be taking the spot left by James Zazzali, who must retire when he turns 70 later this month.
Rabner, 46, has also served as Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He holds degrees from Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
The AP report also says first assistant attorney general Anne Milgram, 36, is the favorite to replace Rabner as Attorney General. She served as Corzine's counsel in 2005, when he was a U.S. senator.
When asked last week about the coming nomination, Corzine endorsed Rabner's decision-making skills.
"I have a high degree of confidence in Attorney General Rabner's judgment," he said.
Last month, Rabner reached a $190 million settlement with Motorola. The State of New Jersey was the lead plaintiff in a class action securities fraud lawsuit that alleged Motorola misled shareholders about the nature of its business dealings with the Turkish telecommunications company Telsim.
The New Jersey pension fund was one of the investors victimized, he alleged. He added that the fund lost about $7 million.
Rabner has also watched over New Jersey's lawsuit againt the Environmental Protection Agency that alleges it violated the Clean Air Act by exempting power plants from certain mercury-emission regulations.