UC Davis Law professor Vikram David Amar and Yale College senior Ethan Yan discuss the complexities and legal questions around a potential U.S. Senate vacancy in New Jersey, focusing on the current political situation surrounding Senator Bob Menendez. Professor Amar and Mr. Yan conclude that while New Jersey law allows Governor Phil Murphy considerable discretion in filling a Senate vacancy, including the possibility of appointing his wife Tammy, such a move would likely be politically damaging, even if constitutionally permissible.
SMU Dedman School of Law professor Joanna L. Grossman comments on the New Jersey legislature’s recent passage of a bill to legalize gestation surrogacy. Grossman describes the long battle over surrogacy in that state, from the nationally influential decision by its supreme court, In the Matter of Baby M, to two surrogacy bills passed by the legislature but vetoed by then-Governor Chris Christie, to the present bill signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy.
