Stalemate: NJ Dems poised to reject 2nd Christie State Supreme Court Nominee

The idealogues do not want a strict-constructionist judiciary. New Jersey has the distinct (dis)honor of having the most activist State Supreme Court in the nation. Chris Christie wants to change that.

The Democrats say "no."

There are two vacancies on the NJSC. Christie's first nominee, Phillip Kwon, was sent packing amid the swirl of specious ethics charges directed at his mother. And yesterday the Democrats derailed Christie's nomination of openly-gay Chatham mayor Bruce Harris.

Mr. Harris would seem to be their perfect judicial candidate too — he's homosexual and proud, he's in favor of same-sex "marriage", and he's black. That's what the affirmative-action bean counters call a trifecta. Except for one teensy-weensy problem. Harris is a registered Republican.

Mind you, he's probably a Republican in the mold of Christie Whitman. But no matter. He's PNG with the lefty activist set. South Jersey Boss George Norcross gave him a thumbs-down. And Steve Sweeney rushed to do his master's bidding. Harris' nomination is DOA.

Elsewhere in NJ judicial news, many of our state's Superior Court judgeships remain vacant, to hear the Dems tell it, because Christie hasn't nominated anyone to fill them. Actually though it's because State Senator Ron Rice (D-Venus) refuses to come back to Earth before his obsession with space aliens taking over the public education system makes him a laughingstock. Rice gets to block Christie's executive branch nominees due to an obscure practice known as "Senatorial Courtesy."

And block them he has. En masse. Because he's afraid Klingons in cahoots with Chris Christie are out to emasculate the teachers unions. So "Acting" Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf can't get a confirmation hearing, lest the witnesses Senator Rice calls to testify fail to beam down when summoned.

Stalemate.

The Democrats believe they're holding all the cards. Except the wheels of justice are slowing grinding to a halt. Justice denied, and all that.

I happen to believe that a governor (and a president) ought to have wide latitude when choosing judicial nominees. It's their right by virtue of their position. It's also one reason why I'm hell-bent on defeating Barack Obama in November. The right place to determine the judiciary's balance is at the ballot box; not in a smoke-filled back room.

Obama elevated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. She's barely qualified to sit in judgment on traffic court, but there she is, attempting to keep up while Antonin Scalia patiently explains the Constitution.

In my (not so) humble opinion Bruce Harris could be just as bad for New Jersey. But that's beside the point. He's become a pawn in the Democrats' power play on behalf of their public employee union benefactors. An activist judiciary keeps the social justice gravy train flowing. It forces our state to spend billions of dollars which inevitably end up in the hands of union flunkies. The money lavished on the Abbott school districts alone is enough to keep the NJEA in clover for years to come.

State Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth Board of Education) has even gone so far as to demand Christie nominate two liberal Democrats in Harris' and Kwon's stead. Because that would maintain what he calls "balance" on the court. To me that's tantamount to a declaration of war; our recent Democrat governors certainly didn't nominate any conservative Republicans!

Governor Christie needs to stand firm. Pick two conservative jurists with impeccable credentials and take their case to the people. Stand up to Democrat bullying. The future of New Jersey depends on it.

Posted at 10:02 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Perm Link |
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