Deborah Poritz

Deborah Tobias Poritz (born October 26, 1936) is an American jurist. She was the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1996 to 2006, and was the Attorney General of New Jersey from 1994 to 1996, in both cases becoming the first woman to serve in that position.

Biography

Poritz was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from James Madison High School in 1954 and Brooklyn College in 1958. She became a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in English and American Literature at Columbia University.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1977, Poritz became a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety. In 1981, she was named as the Assistant Chief of the Environmental Protection Section. She later served as Deputy Attorney General in Charge of Appeals, Chief of the Banking, Insurance and Public Securities Section, and later as Director of the Division of Law, and finally she was named the Chief Counsel to Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean. From 1990 to 1994, Poritz was a partner in the Princeton law firm of Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer.

Poritz was the first woman to serve as Attorney General of New Jersey. She was nominated to the position by Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman in January 1994. As Attorney General, she oversaw the divisions of Law, Criminal Justice, Gaming Enforcement, Motor Vehicles, Consumer Affairs, Civil Rights and the New Jersey State Police. She served as attorney general until she took office as chief justice.

Poritz was nominated to be Chief Justice by Governor Whitman on June 20, 1996, and was confirmed on June 27, 1996. She was sworn in as the first female Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court on July 10, 1996. Poritz served until October 25, 2006, when she retired, one day prior to her seventieth birthday. As of December 2008, Poritz is of counsel to the Princeton office of Drinker, Biddle & Reath.

In 2011, Poritz joined the Rutgers School of Law in Newark and in Camden as a resident professor.

In 2016, at a Princeton Public Library book discussion, Poritz criticized governor and candidate for president Chris Christie, saying that she did not see a legacy of his governance.

References

Legal offices
Preceded by Robert Del Tufo	Attorney General of New Jersey 1994 – 1996	Succeeded by Peter Verniero
Preceded by Robert N. Wilentz	Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court 1996 – 2006	Succeeded by James R. Zazzali