Fabiana Pierre-Louis, a current partner in the Cherry Hill office of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, who broke ground as the first black woman to head two U.S. Attorney's Office branches in New Jersey, could break ground again as Gov. Phil Murphy's next nominee to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Pierre-Louis would replace sitting Associate Justice Walter Timpone, who turns 70 later this year.

If confirmed by the state Senate, Pierre-Louis would be the first black woman to serve on New Jersey's highest court, and only its third black jurist—and the first in a decade. (In 1994 Associate Justice James Coleman took his seat as the Supreme Court's first black jurist, serving until 2010).

Pierre-Louis would join Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Associate Justices Jaynee LaVecchia, Barry Albin, Anne Patterson, Faustino Fernandez-Vina and Lee Solomon.

At age 39, Murphy said Pierre-Louis has the potential to serve the state for a generation.

The judiciary had no comment on the nomination.

Pierre-Louis also did not respond for comment—which is typical since Supreme Court nominees are often dissuaded from making comments before their confirmation.

The announcement, made on Friday by the Governor's Office, brings to fruition rumors that circulated most of last year that Murphy was poised to pick the first black woman to serve as a justice on the state's highest court a year before his first term as governor ended.

"I intend for Fabiana to assume the seat of Associate Justice Walter Timpone, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 this November," Murphy said in prepared remarks on Friday. "But, Fabiana would also assume the seat of former Justice John Wallace—our state's second African American justice—for whom she clerked, who became one of her mentors as she embarked on her legal career, and who remains a mentor to this day."

Murphy said he planned to submit Pierre-Louis' name to the New Jersey State Bar Association's Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee on Saturday—which will review the formal nomination for approval.

Once approved there, she will go before the 40-member Senate for confirmation.

Senate President Steven Sweeney, D-Gloucester, issued a statement Friday.

"I want to congratulate Ms. Pierre-Louis on her nomination to serve on New Jersey's highest court. I look forward to meeting and talking with her," said Sweeney.

Pierre-Louis' nomination came as somewhat of a surprise to political observers since she wasn't on Murphy's short list that was circulated in media reports last year. That short list included Elise Boddie, a law professor at Rutgers-Newark; Greta Gooden Brown, a Superior Court judge and former appellate court judge; and Norma Evans, a career prosecutor and president-elect of the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, among others.

"I have selected Fabiana after an exhaustive process," Murphy said on Friday. "She has earned unanimous support and respect from her peers, from her colleagues, from our judicial advisory panel, and importantly, from the trailblazers who made today possible."

"To a person, everyone with whom I or my team talked to about Fabiana spoke about her humanity, her empathy, and her character," Murphy said. "They spoke about the kind of person she is—the kind of person who always seeks to serve others and always carries with her the pride and perspective of her own past."

"The Panel found that the candidate has the competence, integrity and judicial temperament to be an outstanding Justice," said a joint statement from the Governor's Judicial Advisory Panel comprised of retired Chief Justices James Zazzali and Deborah Poritz, retired Justices John Wallace, Virginia Long and Stewart Pollock, retired Judge Peter Doyne, and former president of the New Jersey State Bar Association John Keefe.

Timpone still has nearly six months remaining on the Supreme Court.

Pierre-Louis' nomination comes amid a week of racial turbulence throughout the country over the death of George Floyd, an African American, in the custody of a white police officer in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. Video of Floyd's arrest has spurred protests for racial justice in several major U.S. cities, some peaceful, others not—where looting of storefronts, like those in Center City Philadelphia, led to clashes with police during a pandemic now going on three months.

Murphy himself posted a tweet on Friday with "8 minutes 46 minutes" listed several times—the amount of time that Floyd was pinned to the ground by Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white. Floyd complained of not being able to breathe but was ignored by Chauvin, and he died. Chauvin is facing murder and manslaughter charges over Floyd's death.

Murphy is pictured in the tweet sitting solemnly behind his desk, hands clasped, looking down while wearing a black face covering.

When asked by the Law Journal if Pierre-Louis' nomination announcement on Friday was in any way influenced by current events, the governor's office referred to Murphy's final remarks at the end of the release. In it, he states: "I have not chosen Fabiana because of the current national discussion around race and systemic bias that is unfolding before our very eyes, and in our very streets. However, given the challenges which are being brought to the forefront of our society, and the questions which will undoubtedly rise to reach our Supreme Court—core issues of socioeconomic equality and equity—there is no better meeting of an individual and the times."

The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Joseph and Claire, Pierre-Louis is active in various professional and community groups, including as a board member of the Rutgers Law School-Camden Alumni Association and a trustee with the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey.

Pierre-Louis and her husband, Robert Reeves, and sons Robbie and Marc, reside in Mount Laurel. Raised largely in Irvington, Pierre-Louis received her bachelor's degree from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, then proceeded to graduate from Rutgers Law School-Camden with high honors.

Pierre-Louis worked her first three years out of law school at McCracken as an associate, until 2010, and where she returned last year as partner in the firm's white-collar and government investigations practice.

During her time away from McCracken, Pierre-Louis served nine years in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, working in each of the district's three offices, in Newark, Trenton, and Camden.

In 2016, she was appointed attorney-in-charge of the Trenton office, and two years later was appointed attorney-in-charge of the Camden Office. She was the first black woman to hold each position. In addition to overseeing the work of the attorneys in Trenton and Camden, Pierre-Louis investigated and prosecuted her own cases.

"As United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Fabiana was the first attorney I hired, and I am enormously proud to have done so. She was a great prosecutor, wonderful colleague, and will serve as an excellent addition to the state's highest court," said former U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, now a partner at Arnold & Porter, in a statement.

Several diverse bar association leaders lauded Pierre-Louis' nomination, including Joseph Makhandal Champagne, president of the Haitian American Lawyers Association of  New Jersey.

"In the midst of all the chaos around the world, it warms my heart to learn of the uplifting news highlighting Gov. Murphy's nomination of our very own," Champagne said. "Once sworn in, she will become the first Haitian and black woman to preside on such a high and esteemed court."

While she worked in the Trenton branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Pierre-Louis played a central role in the creation of the Trenton Reentry Court, which provides additional assistance to recently released federal offenders to further aid their reentry into society, according to the Governor's Office release.

Her credentials, said Murphy, squared with what he was looking for in a justice and where he wanted the Supreme Court to return.

Criminal justice reform has been one of Murphy's priorities. He spearheaded legislation last year to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults age 21 and over—which had been a centerpiece of his run for governor in 2017. Murphy pushed for a key provision within the massive bill to expunge the records of those with minor marijuana and hashish offenses as a way to ameliorate what he said was the disproportionate number of black men in prison compared with whites.

"We have the widest non-white gap of persons incarcerated in America," Murphy repeated in news conferences last year in trying to shore up support for the marijuana bill. "The status quo is unacceptable."

Although the marijuana bill stalled in the Senate, the Legislature passed other bills, signed by Murphy, to expunge the records of those with minor drug offenses and allowing parolees the right to vote.

Murphy also created the bipartisan Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission, led by Poritz, last year, intended to help alleviate racial disparities in the state's criminal justice system. Among the committee's nine core recommendations made public last Nov. 14 was the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses and property crimes.

Murphy described what he envisions as the role and makeup of a Supreme Court justice: one that was independent-thinking, diverse, and a model for the country.

"First, our Supreme Court must be independent," Murphy said. "One of the hallmarks of our state's judicial system—and one of the reasons why, for the past 73 years, it has been held up as a national model for excellence—has been the recognition by the overwhelming number of past governors of the importance of the Supreme Court's independence."

"And, precisely because of its independence, even in times when we may quibble with the Court's conclusions, we can have no argument with the way in which those decisions are made," said Murphy.

Murphy referenced to what occurred 10 years ago, when Wallace was denied reappointment by then-Gov. Chris Christie because of what some said were court decisions that were unpopular with Christie.

"This administration is committed to returning the Court to its rightful place—independent of politics, where decisions are made based on what is right rather than what is popular or what is needed to secure re-nomination and tenure from any particular governor," Murphy said in the same release.

Murphy said he "removed politics from this process" when he renominated Associate Justice Patterson in 2018.

"Second, our courts must reflect our state, in all its great diversity," Murphy said. "Justice cannot be blind if those who sit on our highest and most powerful bench are not surrounded by colleagues who encompass the full range of the American experience, whether it be racially or generationally, or both."

"And, so, today, we are making a powerful statement of where and how these values guide us," Murphy said.

Pierre-Louis' potential seating on the high court in November would come a year before Murphy runs for reelection. Timpone's seat could be his only Supreme Court nomination unless he wins a second term in 2021.

David Gialanella contributed to this report.