Peter Verniero

Peter G. Verniero (born April 30, 1959 in Montclair, New Jersey) is an American lawyer and jurist from New Jersey. He previously served as a Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and as New Jersey Attorney General; he is presently in private practice in New Jersey.

Verniero graduated summa cum laude from Drew University in 1981, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a J.D. degree from Duke University School of Law in 1984. Following law school, Verniero served as a law clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Robert. L. Clifford.

From 1985 to 1994 Verniero was an attorney in private practice and active in New Jersey Republican politics. He was appointed Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s first chief counsel in 1994. In this position he oversaw state authorities, legislation, executive orders, pardons, and judicial nominations for the Governor. In 1995 Whitman elevated Verniero to the position of chief of staff.

In 1996, following Deborah T. Poritz’s nomination to the New Jersey Supreme Court, Whitman named Verniero as the 51st Attorney General of New Jersey. Verniero was sworn in on July 10, 1996. In this position, he oversaw state criminal justice, legal affairs, gaming enforcement, consumer affairs, highway safety, the state police and professional regulation. As the attorney general serves a term concurrent with that of the governor, Whitman renominated Verniero in January 1998 and he was confirmed a second time by the State Senate on January 20, 1998.

While attorney general, Verniero successfully defended Megan’s Law, New Jersey’s sexual offender notification statute, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Verniero also represented the State of New Jersey before the U.S. Supreme Court in New Jersey v. New York, 523 U.S. 767 (1998), a case settling a boundary dispute over Ellis Island. The Supreme Court declared 90 percent of the present-day island to be a part of New Jersey. Verniero also led statewide initiatives to improve public school safety, aid victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and provide fairness and uniformity in drug case sentencing.

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