Gov. Murphy has nominated Michael Noriega of Fanwood to replace Justice Barry Albin on the New Jersey Supreme Court. We applaud the appointment because, notwithstanding the volume of criminal cases in the courts of New Jersey and the high percentage of them involving defendants represented by the public defender, Mr. Noriega is the first attorney who served in the New Jersey Public Defender's Office to be nominated to the Supreme Court. We are told that he has tried 25 criminal cases in the Law Division, and therefore knows the life of a busy trial lawyer. He now also practices immigration law which, independent of its own importance, is significant in terms of the practice of plea bargaining to avoid deportation issues and other collateral consequences which have enormous impact on the lives of people and the work of our courts.