John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy is an American non-partisan research institute on public policy located at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey. The Institute is named after New Jersey Assemblyman John S. Watson, the first African American to serve as the state's Chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Thomas Edison State College established the institute in response to the expressed needs of decision-makers across New Jersey to have a resource for researching public policy. The approach of the institute is to apply the resources of higher education to
James S. Watson was admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Watson remained at House, Grossman and Vorhaus, now as a lawyer until 1920, becoming head of their Department of Corporate and Tax Law. In 1920, Watson and two other black attorneys, S. T. Christian and J. E. Stevens founded their own law firm, where he would practice law until 1930. In 1922, he became Special Assistant Corporation Counsel to New York City in the Special Franchise Tax Division. He also represented Marcus Garvey during the 1920s. Watson ran for municipal judge in 1930