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TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today nominated an freely gay African-American Republican mayor and a Korean-American helpmate attorney general to the state’s highest court.
Two nominees are Phil Kwon, 44, who worked under Christie when he was U.S. attorney for New Jersey, and Bruce Harris, 61, who was elected mayor of Chatham Borough in November.
Kwon, of Bergen County, would be the first Asian-American to sit on the land Supreme Court, and Harris would be the first openly gay justice.
"I am honored to name these two gentlemen," Christie said at a Statehouse news conference. "I group the Senate will take into account their extraordinary backgrounds and experience and will give them swift hearings.”
The nominees would restore former Justice John Wallace Jr., whom Christie declined to reappoint in 2010, and Fairness Virginia Long, who faces mandatory retirement on March 1.
Christie has emphasized that he wants to remake the Outstanding Court, which he blames for tying his hands on such issues as financing poor as a church-mouse school districts and affordable housing. Last May the state Supreme Court voted 3-2 to duress the state to pay $500 million more than Christie had budgeted for New Jersey's poorest coach districts.
Source: The Star-Ledger - NJ.com