N.J. Attorney General wants Bob Menendez barred from office for life

Abraham Gutman, The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 5, 2025

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The New Jersey Attorney General's Office asked a state judge on Monday to declare that former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is barred for life from seeking public office following his bribery conviction.

Menendez was sentenced in January to 11 years in prison for taking illegal gifts and advancing the Egyptian government's interests. Following his 2024 indictment, the New Jersey Democrat faced a pressure campaign to resign from within his party, led by Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and left office in August.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in New Jersey Superior Court in Mercer County, argues that Menendez is "permanently disqualified" from holding any public office under New Jersey law because his crimes "touched on his public office, position, and employment as a U.S. Senator."

The attorney general is asking a judge to issue a forfeiture order declaring Menendez's disqualification and noting that if he sought public office again, he would be prosecuted.

"Bob Menendez abused his high-ranking position in the U.S. Senate for his own personal and financial benefit, betraying the people who elected him and the oath he swore to serve their interests and not his own," Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. "Today, my office sought a court order ensuring he will be given no such opportunity again in New Jersey."

Attorneys representing Menendez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New Jersey judges have issued similar orders in the past. Earlier this year, the former mayor of Paterson, Jose Torres, was sentenced to three years of probation for violating a court order that barred him from attempting to reclaim the office because of a 2017 conviction. Torres launched a new mayoral bid in 2022 and was indicted for criminal contempt by a grand jury a year after.

If Menendez serves his full sentence, he would be in his 80s upon his release.

Menendez, who represented New Jersey in the Senate for nearly two decades, was unapologetic after his sentencing in January, describing the Manhattan federal courthouse as the "Wild West of political prosecutions."

"President Trump is right — this process is political and is corrupted to the core," Menendez said at the time.