Politics & Government

Camden County Judge Joining State Supreme Court

Faustino Fernandez-Vina, a Haddon Township High School Alum, was confirmed in an unopposed state Senate vote Monday.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Faustino Fernandez-Vina will become both the only Hispanic judge and only South Jersey representative on the New Jersey Supreme Court when he's confirmed Tuesday, after passing a state Senate confirmation vote without opposition.

The Camden County jurist and Gov. Chris Christie nominee sailed through on a 38-0 vote Monday to replace Justice Helen Hoens, who was not renominated to the court, and is slated to take the oath in Trenton before taking part in the Supreme Court's 10 a.m. oral argument session Tuesday, state judiciary officials said.

“I congratulate Judge Faustino Fernandez-Vina on his unanimous and historic confirmation to become the only Hispanic member of the court,” Christie said in a statement. “With his extensive experience in both the private and public sector, Judge Fernandez-Vina is eminently qualified to serve on New Jersey’s Supreme Court, and has earned bipartisan support from leaders on both sides of the aisle.

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“I am glad the legislature left politics out of this process and gave Judge Fernandez-Vina the smooth confirmation he deserves.”

Fernandez-Vina, who is of Cuban-American descent, is a Haddon Heights High School alum and former football player, who went on to graduate from Widener University and Rutgers University School of Law in Camden.

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His confirmation was just the second of Christie's six nominees; Senate Democrats had refused to consider others, including Phil Kwon and Bruce Harris, a stalemate that had persisted since Christie declined to renominate Justice John Wallace, a Democrat and the court’s only black member, in 2010.

Wallace's declined nomination marked the first time since the modern court was established in 1947 that a governor had declined to renominate a justice.

Editor Rob Scott contributed to this report.


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