| John Farmer, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Acting Governor of New Jersey | |
| In office January 8, 2002 |
|
| Preceded by | Donald DiFrancesco as Governor |
| Succeeded by | John O. Bennett as Acting Governor |
| New Jersey Attorney General | |
| In office 1999–2002 |
|
| Preceded by | Peter Verniero |
| Succeeded by | David Samson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 24, 1957 Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Political party | Republican |
John J. Farmer, Jr. (born June 24, 1957) is an American lawyer, politician and jurist. Since 2009, Farmer has been Dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark. He served as Acting Governor of New Jersey for 90 minutes on January 8, 2002, by virtue of his status as New Jersey Attorney General.
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Farmer was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1957. He attended Georgetown University receiving a B.A. degree in 1979 and a J.D. degree in 1986. After law school he worked as a clerk for New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Alan B. Handler. From 1988 to 1990, he was an associate in the law firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti in Morristown. From 1990 to 1994 he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.
In 1997, Governor Christine Todd Whitman appointed Farmer as Chief Counsel, after having served as Deputy Chief Counsel and Assistant Counsel to the Governor.[1]
Farmer was nominated to be New Jersey Attorney General on March 15, 1999, and was sworn in the following June after being confirmed unanimously by the New Jersey Senate. He continued to serve under Donald DiFrancesco after Whitman's resignation.
At the end of DiFrancesco's tenure as Governor of New Jersey, the state did not have the position of lieutenant governor, and succession rules specified that the next in line for governor would be the Senate President. With DiFrancesco's retirement from the New Jersey Senate, the position of Senate President was vacant, leaving the Attorney General next in line for the seat while the new Senate President, John O. Bennett, was sworn in.
Farmer subsequently acted as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission (officially known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States) chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean and former Indiana Congressman Lee H. Hamilton.
Most recently, Farmer has served as Dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark. In his tenure, Farmer has planned a multi-day symposium with the Rutgers Law Review which addressed the many legal uncertainties in post-9/11 national security policy and practices. The symposium featured Thomas Kean, Michael Chertoff, and Judge John Joseph Gibbons, among other scholars and national security leaders. He has also welcomed two United States Supreme Court Justices-- Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito-- to the Law School for exclusive speaking engagements. Prior to his deanship, Farmer practiced law as a partner in a North Jersey firm he founded, and was an adjunct professor of law at the Rutgers School of Law-Newark. He also regularly contributed as a writer to The Star-Ledger and other publications. He continues to contribute to The New York Times
Farmer's book, The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America's Defense on 9/11,[2] was released days before the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
On January 21, 2010, he appeared on The Colbert Report.
In July 2011 he was appointed the 13th (or tie-breaking) member of New Jersey's Congressional Redistricting Commission by both its Democratic and Republican members.[3] New Jersey will lose one Congressional seat in redistricting and the panel will redraw the congressional districts, determining which seat will be lost. [4]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter Verniero |
New Jersey Attorney General 1999-2002 |
Succeeded by David Samson |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Donald DiFrancesco Governor |
Acting Governor of New Jersey January 8, 2002 |
Succeeded by John Bennett Acting Governor |
|
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