Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker applauded the vote to advance through the Senate Judiciary Committee the nomination of Judge Edward Kiel to serve on the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. Booker is a member of the committee.

“Judge Kiel is a highly qualified jurist who has dedicated his career to justice, fairness, and the law,” said Senator Booker. “His nomination is the full-circle realization of the American Dream: if confirmed, he will serve in the same courthouse where his parents were naturalized as American citizens. I’m confident he will serve New Jersey with integrity and distinction when confirmed by the full Senate.”

Judge Edward S. Kiel has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey since 2019. Previously, Judge Kiel was a partner at Cole Schotz, P.C. from 2002 to 2019. Before that, he was an associate at Cole Schotz from 1998 to 2001, at Beattie Padovano from 1994 to 1998, and at Jamieson Moore Peskin & Spicer from 1992 to 1994. Judge Kiel served as a law clerk on the Superior Court of New Jersey, Somerset County from 1991 to 1992. He received his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1991 and his B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University in 1988. If confirmed, Judge Kiel will serve as the first Korean-American judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Booker has served on the Senate Judiciary Committee since 2018. He has been a leader in the Senate on criminal justice and policing reform since he was first elected in 2013. Booker has introduced numerous criminal justice reform proposals, including: the Fair Chance Act, the MERCY Act, the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act, the Second Look Act, the Justice in Policing Act, and the EQUAL Act. He was also a key architect of the most sweeping overhaul of the criminal justice system in decades, the First Step Act, which was signed into law in 2018.