The United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secretary is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States,and is fourteenth in the presidential line of succession.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in New Jersey since October 21,2013,the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating the state's restriction of marriage to persons of different sexes. In September 2013,Mary C. Jacobson,Assignment Judge of the Mercer Vicinage of the Superior Court,ruled that as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor,the Constitution of New Jersey requires the state to recognize same-sex marriages. The Windsor decision held that the federal government was required to provide the same benefits to same-sex couples who were married under state law as to other married couples. Therefore,the state court reasoned in Garden State Equality v. Dow that,because same-sex couples in New Jersey were limited to civil unions,which are not recognized as marriages under federal law,the state must permit civil marriage for same-sex couples. This ruling,in turn,relied on the 2006 decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court in Lewis v. Harris that the state was constitutionally required to afford the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. The Supreme Court had ordered the New Jersey Legislature to correct the constitutional violation,by permitting either same-sex marriage or civil unions with all the rights and benefits of marriage,within 180 days. In response,it passed a bill to legalize civil unions on December 21,2006,which became effective on February 19,2007.
Nicholas Paul Scutari is an American politician and attorney who has served as the 115th president of the New Jersey Senate since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party,he has held a Senate seat since 2004,representing the 22nd legislative district. Scutari has served as Acting Governor of New Jersey on multiple occasions,the first time being in June 2022.
Sheila Yvette Oliver was an American politician who served as the second lieutenant governor of New Jersey from 2018 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,Oliver was the first Black woman to serve as lieutenant governor of New Jersey and was the first woman of color elected to statewide office in New Jersey.
The lieutenant governor of New Jersey is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of New Jersey in the United States. The lieutenant governor is the second highest-ranking official in the state government and is elected concurrently on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. The position itself does not carry any powers or duties other than to be next in the order of succession,but the state constitution requires that the lieutenant governor also be appointed to serve as the head of a cabinet-level department or administrative agency within the governor's administration,other than the position of Attorney General.
The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey,confirmed by the New Jersey Senate,and term limited. Under the provisions of the New Jersey State Constitution,the Attorney General serves a concurrent term to the governor. Matt Platkin became the acting officeholder on February 14,2022,following his nomination by Governor Phil Murphy.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of New Jersey have the same legal rights as non-LGBTQ people. LGBT individuals in New Jersey enjoy strong protections from discrimination,and have had the same marriage rights as heterosexual people since October 21,2013.
Kimberly Ann Guadagno is an American lawyer and politician who served as the first lieutenant governor and 33rd secretary of state of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.
Margaret Helen Chutich is an American lawyer and judge who served as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 2016 to 2024. She was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton. She previously served as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Maura Tracy Healey is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party,she served as Massachusetts Attorney General from 2015 to 2023 and was elected governor in 2022,defeating the Republican nominee,former state representative Geoff Diehl.
Catherine McCabe is a retired public administrator and environmental lawyer who served as acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from January to February 2017 and commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection from January 2018 to January 2021.
Gurbir Singh Grewal is an American attorney and prosecutor who is currently the Director of the Division of Enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission. He served as the sixty-first attorney general of the State of New Jersey from January 2018 until July 2021. Appointed by Governor Phil Murphy,he was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate on January 16,2018. He was the first Sikh-American attorney general in United States history. Grewal was formerly the county prosecutor of Bergen County,New Jersey,originally appointed in 2016;he was also the first Sikh American to be named a county prosecutor in the United States. He was the second South Asian to be a state attorney general after California's Kamala Harris in 2011.
Phil Murphy became the 56th Governor of New Jersey on January 16,2018. He won re-election in 2021,becoming the first Democrat since Brendan Byrne in 1977 to do so. His first term,overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic,has been characterized as establishing the already liberal-leaning state as one of the nation's most progressive.
Andrew Kim is an American politician and former diplomat who has served as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 3rd congressional district since 2019. The district encompasses Philadelphia's eastern suburbs along southern and central New Jersey. A member of the Democratic Party,he worked in the U.S. State Department prior to his election to Congress in 2018.
Andre Sayegh is an American politician who has served as the Mayor of Paterson,the third-most populous city in New Jersey,since July 2018. Prior to being elected as Mayor,Sayegh served on the Paterson City Council from 2008 until 2018.
Rachel Wainer Apter is an American lawyer who serves as a justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Matthew J. Platkin is an American attorney serving as the Attorney General of the state of New Jersey.
Kate R. Cook is an American lawyer and government official serving as the chief of staff for the Massachusetts governor's office since January 2023.
