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{{Short description|American judge (born 1936)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
'''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.▼
| name = Deborah Poritz
| office = Chief Justice of the [[Supreme Court of New Jersey]]
| governor = [[Christine Todd Whitman]]
| term_start = July 10, 1996
| term_end = October 26, 2006
| predecessor = [[Robert Wilentz|Robert N. Wilentz]]
| successor = [[James R. Zazzali]]
| office1 = [[New Jersey Attorney General|Attorney General of New Jersey]]
| governor1 = Christine Todd Whitman
| term_start1 = January 18, 1994
| term_end1 = July 10, 1996
| predecessor1 = [[Robert Del Tufo]]
| successor1 = [[Peter Verniero]]
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|10|26}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place =
| education = [[Brooklyn College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of Pennsylvania Law School|University of Pennsylvania]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
}}▼
▲'''Deborah Tobias Poritz''' (born October 26, 1936) is an American jurist. She was the
==Early life and teaching==
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, New Jersey|Princeton]] law firm of Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer.▼
Poritz was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]] and graduated from [[James Madison High School (New York)|James Madison High School]] in 1954 and [[Brooklyn College]] in 1958.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lapa.princeton.edu/content/judges-and-policy-makers|title = Judges and Policy Makers | Program in Law and Public Affairs | Princeton University}}</ref> She became a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in English and American Literature at [[Columbia University]]. Poritz became an English teacher at [[Ursinus College]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/14/nyregion/woman-in-the-news-lawyer-at-40-rises-to-chief-deborah-tobias-poritz.html|title=Woman in the News;Lawyer at 40 Rises to Chief: Deborah Tobias Poritz|last=Pulley|first=Brett|date=1996-06-14|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-11-13}}</ref>
== Legal career ==
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.▼
▲After graduating from the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]] in 1977 at age 40, Poritz became a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety.<ref name=":0" /> In 1981, she was named as the Assistant Chief of the Environmental Protection Section.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://news.rutgers.edu/news/hon-deborah-poritz-new-jersey%E2%80%99s-first-female-chief-justice-and-attorney-general-returns-rutgers-law/20140502#.WD-fUOYrK00|title=The Hon. Deborah Poritz, New Jersey's First Female Chief Justice and Attorney General, Returns to Rutgers Law–Camden as Commencement Speaker {{!}} Media Relations|website=news.rutgers.edu|access-date=2016-12-01}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.njlawjournal.com/id=900005400688/Judicial-Profile-Chief-Justice-Deborah-Poritz?slreturn=20161030225824|title=Judicial Profile: Chief Justice Deborah Poritz|newspaper=New Jersey Law Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2016-12-01}}</ref> From 1990 to 1994, Poritz was a partner in the [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]] law firm of Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer.<ref name=":2" />
▲Poritz was the first woman to serve as [[Attorney General of New Jersey]].<ref name=":0" /> She was nominated to the position by [[Governor of New Jersey]] [[Christine Todd Whitman]] in January 1994.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2007/11/aclu_to_honor_former_nj_high_c.html|title=ACLU to honor former N.J. chief justice|newspaper=NJ.com|access-date=2016-12-01}}</ref> 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]].
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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJrtBQAAQBAJ&q=deborah++poritz&pg=PA523|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey: 2004 Edition|year=1900|publisher=Lawyers Diary and Manual, LLC|isbn=9781577411871|language=en}}</ref> Poritz served until October 25, 2006, when she retired, due to New Jersey's mandatory retirement age for judges.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VD6AAAAQBAJ&q=Poritz+retires+October+2006&pg=PA224|title=New Jersey Politics and Government: The Suburbs Come of Age|last=Salmore|first=Barbara G.|date=2013-07-19|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813561417|language=en}}</ref>
As of December 2008, Poritz is [[of counsel]] to the Princeton office of [[Drinker, Biddle & Reath]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/dporitz/|title=Deborah T. Poritz {{!}} People {{!}} Drinker Biddle|website=www.drinkerbiddle.com|access-date=2016-11-13|archive-date=2012-06-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626193829/http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/dporitz/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Poritz served as one of seven members of the Judicial Advisory Panel until 2010 when she and the other members of the panel resigned to protest Governor [[Chris Christie|Chris Christie's]] decision not to renominate Supreme Court Justice John Wallace. The resigning panel criticized the decision as an encroachment on judicial independence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archive.northjersey.com/news/n-j-judicial-panel-resigns-to-protest-christie-decision-on-supreme-court-justice-1.1239984|title=N.J. judicial panel resigns to protest Christie decision on Supreme Court justice|last=MEGERIAN|first=CHRIS|date=June 2, 2010|newspaper=NorthJersey.com|access-date=2016-12-01|archive-date=2016-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201211446/http://archive.northjersey.com/news/n-j-judicial-panel-resigns-to-protest-christie-decision-on-supreme-court-justice-1.1239984|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2011, Poritz joined the [[Rutgers School of Law–Newark|Rutgers School of Law in Newark]] and in [[Rutgers School of Law–Camden|Camden]] as a resident professor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.rutgers.edu/news-releases/2010/08/the-hon-deborah-pori-20100824#.WD-nZeYrK00|title=The Hon. Deborah Poritz, Retired NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice, Appointed Visiting Jurist Emerita-in-Residence at Rutgers Law Schools–Camden and Newark {{!}} Media Relations|website=news.rutgers.edu|access-date=2016-12-01}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/respected-former-nj-supreme-court-justice-criticizes-christie-questions-his-legacy-1.1506830|title=Respected former NJ Supreme Court justice criticizes Christie, questions his legacy|last=Rizzo|first=Salvador|newspaper=NorthJersey.com|access-date=2016-11-13}}</ref>
== Awards and honors ==
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey gave Poritz the Roger Baldwin Award, the organization's highest honor, in 2007.<ref name=":3" />
== Personal life ==
Poritz is married to Alan, a mathematician. The couple has two sons.<ref name=":0" />
== See also ==
* [[List of female state attorneys general in the United States]]
* [[List of Jewish American jurists]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/people/p/poritz-deborah-t Deborah Poritz] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116220224/http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/people/p/poritz-deborah-t |date=2017-01-16 }} at Drinker Biddle
* [https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/poritz-deborah-t Deborah Poritz] at [[Jewish Women's Archive]]
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{{s-legal}}
{{Succession box|title= [[Attorney General of New Jersey]]|before=[[Robert Del Tufo]]|after=[[Peter Verniero]]|years=1994 – 1996}}
{{Succession box|title= Chief Justice of the [[
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{{New Jersey Attorneys General}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Poritz, Deborah T.}}
[[Category:American women judges]]▼
[[Category:Chief Justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court]]▼
[[Category:New Jersey Attorneys General]]▼
[[Category:New Jersey Republicans]]▼
[[Category:People from Brooklyn]]▼
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]▼
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni]]▼
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:
[[Category:20th-century American judges]]
▲[[Category:20th-century American women judges]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American judges]]
[[Category:21st-century American women judges]]
[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:James Madison High School (Brooklyn) alumni]]
▲[[Category:New Jersey Republicans]]
▲[[Category:University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States]]
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