TRENTON – The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said that the rejections of Gov. Chris Christie’s two state Supreme Court nominees is about political balance.
After the committee today rejected Bruce Harris – by the same 7-6 vote it rejected Phil Kwon earlier this year – Scutari said the ball is in the governor’s court now.
“The last thing they want is balance,’’ he said of the Republican governor. “We want to see balance maintained.’’
He said that the Democratic-controlled committee would be able to release a Republican nominee but they do not want the governor to have a super majority, a 5-2 Republican edge.
Scutari said the nominee was vetted on his individual credentials.
The two issues the Democrats hammered at were Harris’ lack of in-courtroom experience, and his announcement he would recuse himself on a same-sex marriage case, a move that Sen. Nia Gill told Harris seemed politically calculated to try and win the job.
