Nicholas Paul Scutari (born November 18, 1968) 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.

Early life

Scutari attended Union County College, received a B.A. from Kean University in Psychology, an Ed.M. from Rutgers University in Education and a J.D. from the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. He is an attorney with the Law Offices of Nicholas P. Scutari.

Political career

Before his election to the New Jersey Senate, Scutari was a member of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 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 of the Linden Public Schools.

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 accused him of sexual harassment. Scutari has served on the State Government Committee (as the chair), the Joint State Leasing and Space Utilization Committee, the Commerce Committee and the Judiciary Committee. Scutari held the role of chair of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee 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 is President of the New Jersey Senate. 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 Chris Christie was vigorously opposed to the measure, incoming governor Phil Murphy had announced that he would support legalization.

Committees

Committee assignments for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:

District 22

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 22nd District for the 2024—2025 Legislative Session are:

Acting Governor

On June 4, 2022, Scutari, in his capacity as the Senate president, became acting governor of New Jersey as both Governor Phil Murphy and Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver were out of state on personal trips. He became acting governor for 15 days on July 31, 2023, when Murphy was out of state and Oliver was hospitalized for an illness, from which she died the following day. With Governor Murphy attending a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association in Colorado in late August 2023, Scutari served in his absence as acting governor for the third time. In August 2024, while Governor Murphy and Lieutenant Governor Taheshea Way were out of state for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Scutari passed four bills as acting president, including a bill that raises the cap on attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases from 20% to 25%, as well as another that gives raises to appellate judges and county prosecutors. This raised concerns because Scutari’s law firm works in these cases. Other bills passed included the designation of the interchange between State Highway 42 and Interstate 295 as Ensign John R. Elliott Memorial Interchange; a bill that directs the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to establish a self-certification program allows architects and engineers to self-certify as design professionals; and a bill that allows members of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System to purchase credit for service as a class two special law enforcement officer.

Linden municipal prosecutor

Prior to his senatorship, Scutari was Municipal Prosecutor for the city of Linden, New Jersey, until he was ousted from the position in January 2019 for absence at court hearings. He contested the report which cited that he did not appear more than 50% of the time and sued the city, the case was settled.

Family

In Italy, his cousin Donato Scutari, a member of the Italian Communist Party, 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