Assembly Republican Leaders John DiMaio, Antwan McClellan and Christopher DePhillips introduced legislation on Thursday calling for the impeachment of New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin. Uncoincidentally, the resolution comes one day after a high profile corruption indictment facing Democrat boss George Norcross III and multiple co-defendants was tossed out by a Superior Court judge.
“Platkin has undermined people’s trust in our police and the office of the Attorney General. We’re starting the impeachment process to balance the scales of justice,” said Assembly Republican Leader DiMaio (R-Warren). “He is not above the law.”
The resolution (AR179) accuses Platkin of weaponizing the embattled Division of Criminal Justice and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability among a litany of failures ranging from mistreatment of the State Police and targeting Pro-Life centers to mishandling rape allegations involving the Murphy campaign and the unlawful takeover of the Paterson Police Department.
Most interesting, however, is the GOP’s apparent defense of Norcross’s asserted legal position.
“In 2024, Matthew Platkin brought charges against George Norcross and five others, with news outlets reporting the indictment alleged a plot that used power over government officials in order to craft legislation that would aid them in obtaining property and property rights along the Camden waterfront ‘through coercion, extortion, and other criminal acts,'” reads the resolution, before adding that the trial court ruled that “the factual allegations in the indictments do not constitute extortion or criminal coercion as a matter of law.”
The state constitution’s impeachment procedure unfolds similarly to the federal process, beginning in the Assembly with a majority vote and continuing to the State Senate where a trial, overseen by the Chief Justice, determines whether the prosecutors can hit the required two-thirds supermajority for removal.
While Norcross boasts a fair number of allies and foot soldiers in the legislature, it is unlikely that the Democrat legislature will move against a Democrat Attorney General who isn’t as unpopular with the progressive base as he is in certain Democrat establishment circles.
