By Donald Gilpin

As the town of Princeton, along with the whole state, prepares to face changing federal priorities from the new Trump administration, a panel of New Jersey leaders will gather on Thursday, December 19 at 6 p.m. in the Nassau Presbyterian Church (Livestream available) to discuss “State of Protection: Strengthening New Jersey’s Rights in Immigration, Healthcare, Environment, and Law.”

NJ Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Princeton University Professor and former New Jersey Commissioner of Health and Senior Services Heather Howard, and ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha will be leading the deliberations, moderated and organized by State Sen. Andrew Zwicker (District 16).

“After the results of the presidential election, I started to think quite a bit about the first Trump administration and what I could do as a member of the N.J. state legislature to protect the people of New Jersey from what we expect will be coming out of Washington, D.C. over the next four years,” Zwicker said in a recent phone conversation.

“I’ve met people on the street and people have called me up asking, ‘What can a state do to write laws and protections when it comes to our health care and immigration and environment and so much more?’” he added.

Zwicker reached out to the N.J. attorney general, to longtime health care expert and former Princeton Councilwoman Howard, and to civil rights leader and New Jersey ACLU Director Sinha, and the panel was quickly established. The event has been advertised statewide, and the signups for livestream and in-person attendance have been coming in rapidly.

Zwicker emphasized the important role that Princeton and other municipalities can play in protecting their citizens’ rights. “We saw in the first Trump administration that it wasn’t the states that were under attack, but the towns and cities in particular,” he said. “Princeton has always wanted to have the autonomy to have strong environmental regulations at the municipal level and to be able to govern as the members of the town see fit.”

He continued, “We saw federal officials come into Princeton during the first Trump administration, targeting our immigrant community, so it’s critically important that the mayor and the Council, and the people of Princeton are fully prepared for the second Trump administration. This panel is just one piece of that goal to help inform people and to get people engaged.”

Zwicker mentioned some of his greatest concerns. “It seems apparent that we’re going to see a rollback of a variety of environmental regulations that stop people from polluting,” he said. “We’re going to see a rollback of renewable energy goals that will accelerate global warming. We’re going to see a targeting of our immigrant community as we saw in the first Trump administration. And we’re going to see attempts once again to gut the Affordable Care Act.”

He went on to emphasize the challenges of navigating the line between powers of the state and powers of the federal government. “Understanding where that dividing line is and what we can do easily and what we will struggle to do is the point here,” he said.

Understanding where that line is can help the legislature put forth legislation and work with the governor “to ensure that the people of New Jersey continue to have clean air and clean water, basic human rights, access to health care, and so much more,” he added.

State Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz already has a package of bills she’s been working on related to protecting health care in New Jersey, and Senate Environmental Committee Chair Bob Smith has been working to strengthen state environmental goals and regulations, Zwicker pointed out, noting that those efforts are likely to be accelerated.

Zwicker urged New Jersey residents from around the state to come to the Nassau Presbyterian Church on December 19, “because we want to come together in community and show strength. We’d like to fill up to capacity.” He went on to state that in the future, “What I’d like to see is towns banding together to work to ensure that everything they do at the municipal level they’re doing while the state and county governments are doing the same thing.”

“New Jersey is a national leader in safeguarding the rights of its residents across critical areas, including immigration, health care, environmental protection, and civil rights,” he continued. “Our state, however, faces challenges that require us to reexamine and strengthen those safeguards. By working together, I am confident New Jersey can set an example for the nation in protecting and enhancing the rights and services that define our humanity.”

He added, “The next four years are going to be difficult, and so it is beholden on all of us to come together, work together, and ensure that we are protecting every single person who lives in our great state.”

The December 19 public event will include moderated panel discussion followed by audience Q&A, with registration free but required. For more information and registration, visit andrewzwicker.com/state-of-protection-panel.