Nominee

Gov. Corzine's nominee to be the next Camden County prosecutor sailed through his interview before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, easily winning unanimous approval. Now trial lawyer Warren W. Faulk will face a vote before the entire Senate, likely later this month. Faulk, of Haddonfield, is a senior partner at the Westmont firm Brown & Connery. Camden County has had an interim prosecutor for more than two years, since Vincent Sarubbi resigned. Since 2003, the Camden prosecutor has also overseen the Camden police.

His only instruction to the team searching for a state Supreme Court nominee, Gov. McGreevey claimed, was to find "the best qualified person. " So what a surprise when the governor announced last week that his selection - Roberto Rivera-Soto - happens to be not only an accomplished lawyer but also a Latino American, a Republican, and a South Jerseyan who is not part of the state's political scene. Being "best qualified" is always in the eyes of the beholder. Rivera-Soto's background makes him an interesting, if not compelling, nominee.

Should a gay nominee to New Jersey's Supreme Court be recused from gay marriage cases?

THE REACTION of the Daily News and the left in general to Samuel A. Alito Jr. tells me that the president picked the right man for the job. Nominees such as Alito are in the public spotlight for the first time, so I have little firsthand knowledge of their conservative credentials. That's why I watch the reaction of the left to the nominee. Their reaction is fear. The left can't get what they want through the ballot box, so they depend on the courts to back their agenda. This nominee threatens their control of the Supreme Court.

Michael Jackson has requested the return of nude photos taken of him by police during their investigation of child molestation charges. But Superior Court Judge James M. Slater in Santa Barbara, Calif., has nixed the idea for now. The judge said that he had never heard of prosecutors surrendering evidence to a possible criminal defendant, but put off his final decision until March 22. Slater said negatives and prints of Jackson's genitals were locked in a safe deposit box. The photographs of Jackson's private parts were taken in an attempt to determine whether marks on his genitals matched the description a teenage boy gave authorities.

THE U.S. Constitution's express provision for amendment requires strong and broad popular support for change. However, if a mere five of the nine justices of the Supreme Court agree, a major change can occur without popular support. In 1973, in Roe v. Wade, the court changed the Constitution when it created a right to abortion. It did so under the guise of interpretation despite the absence of any direct supporting text. Since Roe, conservatives have sought to reverse that change by pushing for the appointment of justices believed to be against abortion.

Picasso had one. Larry Flynt had one. And last night, at the 70th annual Academy Awards celebration, Oscar entered its blue period - Titanic blue. Best actress Helen Hunt, with glamorous upswept hair, appeared utterly Grace Kelly in a tight strapless blue satin and little jewelry. Best director nominee James Cameron's wife, way-buff actress Linda Hamilton (whom he directed in what is affectionately known as the Termie series), chose a sequined ice-blue, spaghetti-strap Pamela Dennis dress with her hair upswept with diamond barrettes.

It begins again: the argument over whether the Senate should consider the politics and philosophy - now called ideology - of a nominee to the Supreme Court, in this case Robert H. Bork. There is a simple, historical division on this question. It is not between Democrats and Republicans, or conservatives and liberals, but between those who want the nominee approved and those who don't. Those who favor the president's choice - whether the president is Lyndon Johnson or Ronald Reagan - argue that all the Senate need do is make sure the appointee has graduated from an approved law school, pays his bills, and can read and write.

So the debate is joined anew, this time over whether President Reagan's post-Bork nominee to the Supreme Court, 41-year-old Douglas H. Ginsburg, ought to become the newest justice on a closely divided court. Already the President is calling for full-speed-ahead Judiciary Committee hearings, urging them within three weeks - a deadline that would have them start, if history is a guide, before the American Bar Association and FBI evaluations are available. These typically take a month or more to complete.