WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) today applauded the Senate confirmation of attorney Christine P. O’Hearn to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. O’Hearn is now the third Biden nominee seated on New Jersey’s federal bench, which had been facing a declared “judicial emergency” due to several longstanding district court vacancies prior to the Biden Administration.

“I was proud to recommend Ms. O’Hearn for this nomination. She has the qualifications, intellect, and the temperament necessary to make an excellent and impartial federal judge, and I’m confident she will serve the U.S. District of New Jersey well,” Sen. Menendez said on the Senate Floor shortly before her confirmation. “The people of New Jersey deserve nothing less than a fully-staffed District Court – not to mention all of the parties with business pending before it. I am confident that Ms. Christine O’Hearn’s experience and intellectual rigor will be an asset to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey.”


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“Christine O’Hearn’s  extensive experience, dedication to justice, and respect for the rule of law make me confident that she will serve honorably as she assumes her new role as U.S. District Court Judge of New Jersey,” said Sen. Booker. “Her confirmation by the Senate today is a welcome step in addressing the vacancies on New Jersey’s federal bench, and I look forward to her service to our state and our country.”

Christine P. O’Hearn is currently a partner at Brown & Connery, LLP in Westmont, N.J. where she practices in labor, employment and complex civil litigation. She has over 28 years of experience as a trial attorney successfully arguing cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania Federal and State Courts.  O’Hearn was twice named one of the “Top 40 Attorneys Under 40” in New Jersey by the New Jersey Law Journal (2002, 2004) and was featured in the New Jersey Law Journal’s “Woman and Minorities in the Profession” (2003).  She was appointed in 2020 to the U.S. Magistrate Judge Selection Committee and served on various distinguished boards, including the New Jersey State Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the New Jersey Supreme Court District IV Ethics Committee.  O’Hearn previously served as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, has published numerous articles and legal writings with a focus on employment discrimination, and has been admitted into the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bar, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  She graduated cum laude from Temple University School of Law and earned a B.A. in criminal justice from the University of Delaware.

President Biden nominated O’Hearn on April 29. In June, the Senate confirmed the appointments of U.S. Magistrate Judge Zahid Quraishi and Julien X. Neals to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey after they were nominated together on March 30; their confirmation hearing was held in April.  On May 12, President Biden nominated U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen M. Williams to serve on New Jersey’s district court.