Nicholas Paul Scutari (born November 18, 1968) is an American politician and attorney who is the 115th and current

President of the New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232 ...

. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he has served in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

since 2004, representing the 22nd Legislative District. He has held the position of Senate President since 2022.

Early life

Scutari attended

Union County College Union College (formerly Union County College) is a public community college in Union County, New Jersey. It was founded in 1933 as the first of New Jersey's public community colleges. The college has four campuses: Cranford, Elizabeth, Plainfie ...

, received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Kean University Kean University () is a public university in Union Township, Union County, New Jersey, Union and Hillside, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Kean University was founded in 1855 in Newark, New Jersey, as th ...

in Psychology, an Ed.M. from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in Education and a J.D. from the

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Western Michigan University Cooley Law School ("Cooley") is a private law school in Lansing, Michigan and Riverview, Florida. It was established in 1972. At its peak in 2010, Cooley had over 3,900 students and was the largest US law school by en ...

. He is an attorney with the Law Offices of Nicholas P. Scutari.Senator Scutari's Legislative Website

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

. Accessed January 24, 2022.

Political career

Before his election the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, Scutari was a member of the Union County

Board of Chosen Freeholders In New Jersey, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the b ...

, where he became the youngest Freeholder Chairman in county history. He served as Freeholder Chairman in 1999, after serving a year as Freeholder Vice Chairman. Prior to being a freeholder, he served as a member of the

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

in Linden.

New Jersey Senate

He was nominated for the Senate after Senator Joseph Suliga announced that he would not seek re-election after a female casino employee in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

accused him of sexual harassment. Senator Scutari has served on the State Government Committee (as Chair), the Joint State Leasing and Space Utilization Committee, the Commerce Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Senator Scutari has held the role of Chair of the New Jersey Senate Committee on Judiciary for the longest period in modern history. He is a former Commissioner of the New Jersey Clean Elections Commission. He is also a former Vice Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He now heads the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Scutari was the chief sponsor of New Jersey's Medical Marijuana law that was signed into law in 2009 and has been an advocate for the effort to legalize marijuana for all individuals over the age of 21. After a bill he introduced failed in 2014, Scutari introduced a bill in May 2017 to legalize, regulate and tax recreational marijuana use; while then-

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in Ne ...

was vigorously opposed to the measure, incoming governor

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

had announced that he would support legalization.

Committees

*Judiciary *Joint State Leasing and Space Utilization Committee *Commerce

District 22

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the

and two members in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

. The representatives from the 22nd District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are: *Senator Nicholas Scutari (D) *Assemblywoman Linda S. Carter (D) *Assemblyman James J. Kennedy (D)

Acting Governor of New Jersey

On June 4, 2022, Senate President Scutari was sworn in as the Acting Governor of New Jersey as both Governor Phil Murphy and Lieutenant Governor Shelia Oliver were out of state on personal trips.

Linden municipal prosecutor

Concurrent with his senatorship, Scutari was Municipal Prosecutor for the city of

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

until he was ousted from the position in January 2020 for absence at court hearings. He contested the report which cited that he did not appear more than 50% of the time and is suing the city.

Family

In Italy, his cousin Donato Scutari, a member of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

, was elected Deputy and Senator of the Italian Republic. His uncle, Anthony Scutari, was chair of the Union County Improvement Authority.

Electoral history

New Jersey Senate

References

External links

Senator Scutari's legislative webpage

*''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
2016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004Senator Nicholas P. Scutari

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Scutari, Nicholas 1968 births 21st-century American politicians American people of Arbëreshë descent County commissioners in New Jersey American politicians of Italian descent American lawyers and judges of Italian descent Kean University alumni Lawyers from Newark, New Jersey Living people Democratic Party New Jersey state senators People from Linden, New Jersey Politicians from Newark, New Jersey Presidents of the New Jersey Senate Rutgers University alumni Western Michigan University Cooley Law School alumni Union College (New Jersey) alumni