Governor Chris Christie has nominated Board of Public Utilities President Robert Hanna and Judge David Bauman to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Judicial nominations have become particularly ugly point of contention between the Christie Administration and Democrat antagonists in the State House. Bauman, a Republican, is an Asian-American and the current civil presiding judge from Monmouth County. Hanna is unaffiliated and a veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office under Chris Christie.
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Brief biographies of both men (provided by the Christie Administration to the press) are below the fold:
Robert Hanna, 54, a lawyer with nearly 30 years of legal experience, has served as the President of the Board of Public Utilities since December 2011, when he was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and full Senate for the post. For the two years prior to that, he served as Director of the Division of Law and Assistant Attorney General within the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety.
Mr. Hanna served for 16 years in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey including approximately four years as the Chief of the Securities and Health Fraud Unit. As Chief of the Securities and Health Fraud Unit, Hanna supervised ten prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of major federal securities and health care fraud cases. Mr. Hanna also has 10 years of prior private sector legal experience with the firms Gibbons P.C. and Cahill, Gordon & Reindel. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Manhattan College and received his law degree from Fordham University, where he served on the Law Review staff.
Judge David Bauman, 56, currently sits as the Presiding Judge, Civil Division, in Monmouth County. After 17 years in private practice, Judge Bauman was nominated in 2008 for the post by Governor Corzine. He was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and confirmed by the full Senate 37-0. A veteran, Judge Bauman served 4 years on Active Duty with the United States Marine Corps, and an additional 12 years as a Reservist. On Active Duty, Judge Bauman served as Defense Counsel, Prosecutor and Special Counsel with the Naval Investigative Service, trying over 30 jury and bench trials at special and general courts martial.
Prior to his appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Bauman served for 17 years in private sector law with the firm Bressler, Amery & Ross, including as a partner for 10 years, where he specialized in complex civil and commercial litigation as well as criminal law. In that capacity, Judge Bauman appeared before the U.S District Court of New Jersey, New York and New Jersey State Courts and various administrative agencies. In addition, Judge Bauman was an active member of a variety of organizations in the law and victim advocacy communities, including: the New Jersey Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee; the Asian-Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey; the New Jersey Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project; and as a member of the NJ State Bar Association’s Franchise Law Committee and Special Committee on Military Law and Veterans Affairs.
Judge Bauman is a Magna cum laude graduate of Columbia University and received his law degree from Boston College.
Politics aside, they both seem well qualified.