Christie's ploy to pack the courts to overturn state's progressive agenda doomed his latest nominee
from Charles Stile at NorthJersey.com: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/143950056_In_the_end__Christie_doomed_Kwon.html?page=all
___ Phillip Kwon became the first Supreme Court nominee since the modern constitution was adopted in 1947 who failed to win Senate Judiciary Committee approval. That's in part because New Jersey never had a governor like Christie, who so aggressively, so loudly expressed his animus toward the high court. Historical conduct begets historical votes . . .
. . . in New Jersey at least, no modern governor has been as brazen about the court as Christie. He dumped Associate Justice John Wallace in 2010 for no reason other than the fact that Wallace simply didn't fit Christie's ideology. That led critics to accuse the governor of intimidating other untenured members of the Judiciary.
No governor has publicly browbeat justices who disagreed with him, like Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg, who upheld a decision that exempted judges from paying higher amounts toward their benefits. Christie accused Associate Justice Barry Albin of joining forces with Democrats because Albin noted that public schools were no longer being financed by a surcharge on millionaires.
No other governor publicly hinted that he might ignore a court's ruling on public school funding last year. The message was clear: Christie would not be happy with a high court nominee unless he marched to his tune.
That impression was reinforced by Christie's choice of Kwon, another Christie colleague from his days as U.S. attorney for New Jersey in Newark who followed Christie to Trenton. More than a dozen of those discreet and trusted and loyal federal prosecutors landed in high posts in Christie's administration - now he wanted to install one on the Supreme Court . . .
read: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/143950056_In_the_end__Christie_doomed_Kwon.html?page=all
Gov. Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno introduce New Jersey Supreme Court nominees Phillip H. Kwon, far left, and Bruce A. Harris, far right, back in January. (AP Photo / Office of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie)
