| John Michael Vazquez | |
| Office: | Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey |
| Term Start: | January 29, 2016 |
| Term End: | September 8, 2023 |
| Appointer: | Barack Obama |
| Predecessor: | Joel A. Pisano |
| Successor: | Jamel K. Semper |
| Birth Date: | 11 May 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Education: | Rutgers University (BA) Seton Hall University (JD) |
John Michael Vazquez (born May 11, 1970) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Vazquez was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1970. His family moved to New Jersey when he was several months old.[1] Vazquez received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992 from Rutgers University. He received a Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, in 1996 from Seton Hall University School of Law.[2]
Vasquez served as law clerk to Judge Herman D. Michels of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, from 1996 to 1997.
He served as an associate in the Law Offices of Michael Critchley and Associates from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was an assistant United States attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. From 2006 to 2008, he worked in the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General, serving first as special assistant to the Attorney General and subsequently as first assistant attorney general. from 2008 to 2016, he was a partner at Critchley, Kinum & Vazquez, LLC.[2] In that role, Vasquez represented Anthony R. Suarez, mayor of Ridgefield, New Jersey, during his 2010 trial on corruption charges, and won an acquittal, ending "a government streak of more than 200 public corruption convictions spanning more than a decade."[3]
On March 26, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Vazquez to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, to the seat vacated by Judge Joel A. Pisano, who retired on February 16, 2015. Vasquez was unanimously rated as "well qualified" for the judgeship by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, the committee's highest rating.[4] His nomination received the support of both of New Jersey's senators, Cory Booker and Robert Menendez.[5] His nomination was reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 17, 2015, by a voice vote.[6] [7] Vazquez was confirmed by the Senate on January 27, 2016, by a 84–2 vote.[8] He received his judicial commission on January 29, 2016. On March 22, 2023, Vazquez gave notice of his intent to resign from office as of September 8, 2023.[9]