After Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s reversal on blue slips, he has held hearings for nine nominees that lack blue slips from one or both home-state senators.  Of those, four have been confirmed on the floor and one has been rejected, the rest, including Paul Matey of New Jersey were blocked from a final vote by then-Sen. Jeff Flake’s objections.  In the new Congress without Flake, he remains a favorite to be confirmed.

Background

Paul Brian Matey was born in Edison, New Jersey on March 29, 1971.  Matey attended Scranton University and then spent four years working for Marvel Entertainment in New York City.[1]

In 1997, Matey joined Seton Hall University School of Law, graduating summa cum laude in 2001.[2]  Matey then clerked for Judge John Lifland on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and for Judge Robert Cowen on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Matey has been nominated for the seat that Cowen once held).

After his clerkships, Matey joined Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick LLC as an associate.  In 2005, Matey joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, working under U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.[3]  When Christie was elected Governor in 2009, Matey joined the Governor’s Office as Assistant Counsel.  He later was elevated to be Senior Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel.

In 2015, Matey was hired to be General Counsel for University Hospital in Newark.[4]  He left this position in 2018 to become a Partner with Lowenstein Sandler LLP, where he works today.

History of the Seat

Matey has been nominated for a New Jersey seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated by Judge Julio Fuentes.  Fuentes, a Democrat who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, moved to senior status on July 18, 2016.  As the vacancy opened up relatively late in the Obama Administration, no nominee was put forward to fill the seat.

Shortly after Trump’s election, Christie reached out to the Administration to recommend Matey for the Third Circuit.[5]  In August 2017, news outlets reported that New Jersey’s Democratic Senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, had agreed to sign off on Matey in return for the nominations of Democrats to fill District Court vacancies.[6]  However, the deal never materialized and Matey wasn’t nominated until April 2018.  To date, no district court nominees have been put forward for New Jersey vacancies and Menendez and Booker has not returned blue slips on Matey.

Political Activity

As noted above, Matey worked for Christie when he served as Governor of New Jersey.  In addition, Matey’s only contribution of record is for Christie.[7]  Matey has also been a member of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy since 2001 and a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association since 2005.[8]

Legal Experience

While Matey started his legal career as an Associate at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans, and Figel PLLC in Washington D.C.[9], he is most known for his later positions with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, working for Gov. Chris Christie, as well as his time with University Hospital.

From 2005 to 2009, Matey worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney under then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.  In this role, Matey worked primarily to prosecute complex white collar crimes, securities fraud, and healthcare fraud.  Matey also handled pornography cases.[10]

In 2010, when Christie was elected to be Governor of New Jersey, Matey joined his office to be Assistant Counsel, later becoming Senior Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel.  In this role, Matey analyzed legislation, executive orders, and regulations, and gave legal advice to Christie.  Notably, Matey was Deputy Chief Counsel during the Bridgegate Scandal, when officials in the Christie Administration closed down much of George Washington bridge as political retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee.[11]  Matey was one of two officials who ultimately fired Bridget Anne Kelly, the individual who had authorized the lane closures.[12]

From 2015 to 2018, Matey worked as General Counsel for University Hospital in Newark.  Matey’s tenure has already been criticized by Sen. Cory Booker, who noted that patient safety ratings at the Hospital dropped from C to F during his time there.[13]

Writings and Speeches

While not an academic, Matey has written and elaborated on the law.  Much of his work is descriptive rather than normative.  For example, Matey authored an article explaining a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision regarding the statute of limitations as it relates to toxic tort actions.[14]  Notably, in 2005, Matey co-authored a paper with Justice Neil Gorsuch criticizing securities class actions for creating “vast social costs.”[15]  In another 2003 paper, Matey argued that the First Amendment rights of network broadcasters should be evaluated based on the “market power of the broadcast content.”[16]  Matey argues that this approach would limit government regulation of the First Amendment rights of broadcasters with regard to areas such as Presidential Debates.[17]

Overall Assessment

Matey’s nomination has advanced, so far, without the support of New Jersey Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker.  Under the new blue slip regime, however, the lack of such support is not fatal.  That being said, Matey is still likely to face strong opposition based on his conservative judicial views, membership in the Federalist Society, and close associations to Christie.

Specifically, some may argue that Matey was handpicked over other better-qualified candidates due to his close association with Christie.  The ABA, notably, gave Matey a middling Qualified/Not Qualified rating.[18]

However, with a narrow Republican majority, Matey remains a favorite to be confirmed.  At this point, it would take four Republican defections to kill Matey’s nomination, a tall order as only one Trump nominee has seen that many defections on the floor, and those defections were from the right.  As such, it is likely that Matey will be confirmed in short order.

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