Porzio, Bromberg & Newman Successfully Represents New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police in Supreme Court Appeal of ‘Daniel's Law' Ruling

Porzio Managing Principal Vito A. Gagliardi, Jr. and Team Play Critical Role in Preserving New Jersey Statute Restricting Publication of Public Official Personal Information

Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, led by the firm’s Managing Principal Vito A. Gagliardi, Jr., successfully represented the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police as amicus curiae in a New Jersey Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of Daniel's Law, a privacy statute prohibiting disclosure of the residential addresses of certain public officials.

Daniel's Law was enacted in 2020 following the murder of Daniel Anderl, son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas. Anderl, along with his father, Mark, who survived the incident, were shot at their home by a disgruntled litigant who found the judge's home address online. The law prohibits disclosure of certain personal information of active, formerly active, and retired judicial officers, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers, as well as their family members. It also establishes crime and civil action for disclosing such information. The law was being challenged by Charles Kratovil, journalist and publisher of the media outlet New Brunswick Today, who was seeking to publish the home address of a local police director. The recent decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the trial and appellate court decisions from 2023 and 2024 that dismissed Kratovil's suit.

In representing the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, Gagliardi, who has served as general counsel for the Association for three decades, helped secure a key victory for the privacy rights of certain public officials, including law enforcement. 

“As someone with three generations of law enforcement in my family, including my grandmother, who was the first female police officer in Linden, New Jersey, this was a personal case for me and the State Association of Chiefs of Police,” said Gagliardi. “The safety of our judges and law enforcement officials is critically important, and I am grateful that the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed that Daniel’s Law as applied here was not violative of the First Amendment. The decision strengthens this important law.”

Along with Gagliardi, attorneys David Disler and Tom Reilly led the Porzio team representing the amicus curiae for the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police. 

“Vito Gagliardi and the firm of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman have successfully represented our organization for more than 30 years, and we are thankful for Vito’s guidance and support in earning this ruling for law enforcement officers across the state,” said Mitchell C. Sklar, Executive Director of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police. “We are thrilled that Vito ensured the New Jersey Supreme Court understood the stakes of this case and why it is so important for protecting public officials from violent attacks and direct harassment.”