Governor Christie on Monday nominated a Republican judge for a long-vacant seat on the state Supreme Court and named a successor for the state’s outgoing acting attorney general, moving to fill two high-profile vacancies that loomed as question marks for the rest of his tenure.
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Christie previously nominated Bauman to the Supreme Court in 2012, but the confirmation didn’t move forward in the Senate. If the Superior Court judge is confirmed, he’d be the first Asian-American to serve on the state’s highest court. Christie called Bauman “exceptionally qualified”.
Bauman, 59, is now assigned to the criminal division in Monmouth County. He said he was “truly honored” by the nomination. “His nomination also shows my continued commitment to expanding diversity on the state Supreme Court bench”.
To address that growing problem, Christie and Democratic legislative leaders have proposed competing reform plans, with the governor seeking freeze the current pension system and force employees and retirees to accept less costly healthcare benefits.
In early 2011, Christie said he would ease the state’s reliance on debt for transportation spending by using more “pay-as-you-go” funding out of the annual state budget. A spokesman for Senate President Steve Sweeney said he was unavailable for comment.
If approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate, Bauman would succeed Mary Catherine Cuff. His refusal not to re-nominate Associate Justice John Wallace angered Democrats, who control the Legislature, and set an acrimonious tone that endures today, with Democrats denying some of his choices for judgeships and other positions and Christie refusing to put up an attorney general candidate for legislative confirmation. He rebuffed several other attempts, saying he wouldn’t answer other questions “because I don’t want to”. That deal left one vacancy, filled temporarily by Cuff.
He refused to take questions on any other topic – including on Trump, whom Christie backed Friday.
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“I’d do something as serious as a Supreme Court nomination in 24 hours?” he asked. A handful of reporters tried asking Christie unrelated questions, but he dismissed each one.
