New Jersey Attorney General

State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General
Agency overview
Jurisdiction	New Jersey
Headquarters	Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market Street, Trenton, New Jersey
Agency executive	Matt Platkin, Attorney General;
Parent agency	State of New Jersey
Website	Official website

The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confirmed by the New Jersey Senate, and term limited. Under the provisions of the New Jersey State Constitution, the Attorney General serves a concurrent term to the governor (starting on the third Tuesday of January following the election and ending on the third Tuesday following the next election). Matt Platkin became the acting officeholder on February 14, 2022, following his nomination by Governor Phil Murphy.

The conventional wisdom is that the attorney general cannot be removed from office except "for cause" by the governor or by way of legislative impeachment.[1]

It is fourth in the line of succession after the lieutenant governor of New Jersey, president of the New Jersey Senate, and speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly. The attorney general cannot also serve as the lieutenant governor.

List of office holders

Holders of the office of attorney general include:[2]

Colonial period

Term of office	Attorney General	Notes and references
1704 –1714	Alexander Griffith	Alexander Griffith was the first Colonial New Jersey Attorney General.
1714 –1719	Thomas Burnett Gordon	(17 April 1652—April 28, 1722) was a Scottish emigrant to the Thirteen Colonies who became Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and New Jersey Attorney General for the Province of New Jersey.[3]
1719 –1723	Jeremiah Basse	(died 1725) was a governor of both West Jersey and East Jersey. He became governor of West Jersey in 1697, and became governor of East Jersey in 1697.
1723 –1728	James Alexander	(May 27, 1691 – April 2, 1756) was a lawyer and statesman in colonial New York. He served in the Colonial Assembly and as attorney general of the colony in 1721 –23. His son William was later a major general in the Continental Army during the American revolution. Alexandria Township, New Jersey was named after James Alexander.
1728 –1733	Lawrence Smyth
1733 –1754	Joseph Warrell
1754 –1776	Cortlandt Skinner	(December 16, 1727 – March 15, 1799) was the last colonial attorney general of New Jersey and a brigadier general in the British Loyalist force, the New Jersey Volunteers during the American Revolutionary War.[4][5]

Post-independence

#	Attorney General	Term in office		Appointed by
1	William Paterson[6](1745–1806)	1776 – 1783	[data missing]	Elected by the legislature
2	Joseph Bloomfield (1753–1823)	1783 – 1792	Anti-Administration	Elected by the legislature
3	Aaron Woodruff[7]	1792 – 1811	Federalist	Elected by the legislature
4	Andrew S. Hunter	1811	Democratic-Republican	Elected by the legislature
5	Aaron Woodruff[7]	1812 – June 26, 1817	Federalist	Elected by the legislature
6	Theodore Frelinghuysen	February 6, 1817 – March 4, 1829	Federalist	Elected by the legislature
7	Samuel L. Southard[8]	1829 – 1833	National Republican	Elected by the legislature
8	John Moore White	1833 – 1838	[data missing]	Elected by the legislature
9	Richard Stockton Field[9]	1838 – 1841	[data missing]	Elected by the legislature
10	George P. Mollesson	1841 – 1844	[data missing]	Elected by the legislature
11	Richard P. Thompson	1844 – 1845	[data missing]	Daniel Haines
12	Abraham Browning	1845 – 1850	Democratic
13	Lucius Elmer[10]	1850 – 1852	Democratic
14	Richard P. Thompson	1852 – 1857	[data missing]	George Franklin Fort
15	William L. Dayton[11]	1857 – 1861	Republican	William A. Newell
16	Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen[12]	1861 – 1867	Republican	Charles Smith Olden
17	George M. Robeson[13]	1867 – 1870	Republican	Marcus Lawrence Ward
18	Robert Gilchrist Jr.	1870 – 1875	Democratic	Theodore Fitz Randolph
19	Joel Parker[14]	1875	Democratic	Joseph D. Bedle
20	Jacob Vanatta	1875 – 1877	[data missing]
21	John P. Stockton[15]	April 8, 1877 – April 5, 1897	Democratic
22	Samuel H. Grey[16]	1897 – 1902	[data missing]	John W. Griggs
23	Thomas N. McCarter	1902 – 1903	Republican	Franklin Murphy
24	Robert H. McCarter	1903 – 1908	Republican	Franklin Murphy
25	Edmund Wilson Sr.	1908 – 1914	Republican	John Franklin Fort
26	John Wesley Wescott	1914 – 1919	Democratic	James F. Fielder
27	Thomas F. McCran	1919 – 1924	Republican	Walter Evans Edge
28	Edward L. Katzenbach	1924 – 1929	[data missing]	George S. Silzer
29	William A. Stevens	1929 – 1934	[data missing]	Morgan F. Larson
30	David T. Wilentz	1934 – 1944	Democratic	A. Harry Moore
31	Walter D. Van Riper	1944 – 1948	[data missing]	Walter Evans Edge
32	Theodore D. Parsons	February 4, 1948 – 1954	[data missing]	Alfred E. Driscoll
33	Grover C. Richman Jr.	1954 – 1958	[data missing]	Robert B. Meyner
34	David D. Furman	1958 – 1962	[data missing]	Robert B. Meyner
35	Arthur J. Sills	January 6, 1962 – 1970	[data missing]	Richard J. Hughes
36	George Francis Kugler Jr.	1970 – 1974	[data missing]	William T. Cahill
37	William F. Hyland	1974 – 1978	Democratic	Brendan Byrne
38	John J. Degnan	January 17, 1978 – March 5, 1981	Democratic
39	James R. Zazzali	1981 – 1982	Democratic
40	Irwin I. Kimmelman	January 19, 1982 – January 21, 1986	Republican	Thomas Kean
41	W. Cary Edwards	January 21, 1986 – January 19, 1989	Republican
42	Peter N. Perretti Jr.	February 14, 1989 – January 16, 1990	[data missing]
43	Robert Del Tufo	January 16, 1990 – August 24, 1994	Democratic	Jim Florio
44	Deborah Portiz	January 18, 1994 – July 10, 1996	Republican	Christine Todd Whitman
45	Peter Verniero	July 10, 1996 – May 15, 1999	Republican
46	John Farmer Jr.	June 3, 1999 – January 15, 2002	Republican
47	David Samson	January 15, 2002 – February 15, 2003	[data missing]	Jim McGreevey
48	Peter C. Harvey	February 15, 2003 – January 30, 2006	Democratic	Jim McGreevey
49	Zulima Farber	January 30, 2006 – August 31, 2006	Democratic	Jon Corzine
Acting	Anne Milgram[17]	August 31, 2006 – September 26, 2006	[data missing]
50	Stuart Rabner	September 26, 2006 – June 29, 2007	Democratic
51	Anne Milgram[17]	June 29, 2007 – January 18, 2010	[data missing]
52	Paula Dow[18][19]	January 18, 2010 – January 10, 2012	Democratic	Chris Christie
53	Jeffrey S. Chiesa	January 10, 2012 – June 6, 2013	Republican
Acting	John Jay Hoffman	June 10, 2013 – March 14, 2016	Republican
Acting	Robert Lougy	March 2016 – June 2016	[data missing]
54	Christopher Porrino	June 21, 2016 – January 16, 2018	Independent
55	Gurbir Grewal	January 16, 2018 – July 19, 2021	Democratic	Phil Murphy
Acting	Andrew Bruck	July 19, 2021 – February 14, 2022	Democratic
Acting	Matt Platkin	February 14, 2022 – September 29, 2022	Democratic
56	Matt Platkin	September 29, 2022 – present	Democratic

References

Letter from OLS Deputy Counsel Danielle A. Brucchieri to Senate Republican Office, Office of Legislative Services, May 9, 2005. Accessed December 2, 2008.
Past Attorneys General, New Jersey Attorney General. Accessed December 15, 2007.
"Thomas Gordon Attorney General 1714-1719". Retrieved 20 October 2015.
"Biographical Sketch of Brigadier General Cortland Skinner". www.royalprovincial.com. The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
Lamb, Martha Joanna (1877). Embracing the period prior to the Revolution, closing in 1774. A.S. Barnes and Company. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
William Paterson, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.
Political Graveyard: Aaron Dickinson Woodruff, accessed August 27, 2006.
Samuel Lewis Southard, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.
Richard Stockton Field, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 25, 2007.
Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 20, 2007.
William L. Dayton, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed November 11, 2006.
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.
George Maxwell Robeson, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.
New Jersey State Library biography for Joel Parker, New Jersey State Library. Accessed July 11, 2007.
John Potter Stockton, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.
New Jersey: State Attorneys General, The Political Graveyard. Accessed April 24, 2007.
"Hello to a new day", The Star-Ledger, June 22, 2007. Accessed July 11, 2007.
"Senate confirms 5 NJ Cabinet picks". Asbury Park Press. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
"Paula Dow is sworn in as N.J. Attorney General". The Star-Ledger. 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2010-02-23.

External links

New Jersey Attorney General official website
New Jersey Attorney General articles at ABA Journal
News and Commentary at FindLaw
New Jersey Revised Statutes at Law.Justia.com
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions - "Cases with title containing: State of New Jersey" at FindLaw
New Jersey State Bar Association
New Jersey Attorney General John Jay Hoffman profile at National Association of Attorneys General
Press releases at New Jersey Attorney General

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[1] Letter from OLS Deputy Counsel Danielle A. Brucchieri to Senate Republican Office, Office of Legislative Services, May 9, 2005. Accessed December 2, 2008.

[2] Past Attorneys General, New Jersey Attorney General. Accessed December 15, 2007.

[3] "Thomas Gordon Attorney General 1714-1719". Retrieved 20 October 2015.

[royalprovincial-4] "Biographical Sketch of Brigadier General Cortland Skinner". www.royalprovincial.com. The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies. Retrieved 28 August 2017.

[Lamb1877-5] Lamb, Martha Joanna (1877). Embracing the period prior to the Revolution, closing in 1774. A.S. Barnes and Company. Retrieved 28 August 2017.

[6] William Paterson, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.

[:0-7] Political Graveyard: Aaron Dickinson Woodruff, accessed August 27, 2006.

[8] Samuel Lewis Southard, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.

[9] Richard Stockton Field, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 25, 2007.

[10] Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 20, 2007.

[11] William L. Dayton, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed November 11, 2006.

[12] Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.

[13] George Maxwell Robeson, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.

[14] New Jersey State Library biography for Joel Parker, New Jersey State Library. Accessed July 11, 2007.

[15] John Potter Stockton, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed December 1, 2006.

[polgrave-16] New Jersey: State Attorneys General, The Political Graveyard. Accessed April 24, 2007.

[:1-17] "Hello to a new day", The Star-Ledger, June 22, 2007. Accessed July 11, 2007.

[18] "Senate confirms 5 NJ Cabinet picks". Asbury Park Press. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2010-02-22.

[19] "Paula Dow is sworn in as N.J. Attorney General". The Star-Ledger. 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2010-02-23.

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