Chris Chritie Nominates New Jersey's First Openly Gay Supreme Court Justice

OMG!! I cannot wait to hear the venting and gnashing of teeth from the Christianists over GOP Governor Chris Christie's appointment of the first openly gay justice to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The flying spittle will make foul weather gear a necessity! And to make matters worse - oh, the absolute horror - Christie's appointee, Bruce A. Harris, is African American. In addition, Christie filled another vacancy on the Court with an appointee of Asian descent. The folks at Family Research Council and the American Family Association - especially Bryan Fischer - must be convulsing on the floor. Needless to say, I love it! Here's a video clip from the Star-Ledger:

The Star-Ledger has these additional highlights:

Gov. Chris Christie today nominated an openly gay African-American Republican mayor and a Korean-American assistant 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 state Supreme Court, and Harris would be the first openly gay justice.

"I am honored to nominate these two gentlemen," Christie said at a Statehouse news conference. "I trust the Senate will take into account their extraordinary backgrounds and experience and will give them swift hearings.”

The nominees would replace former Justice John Wallace Jr., whom Christie declined to reappoint in 2010, and Justice Virginia Long, who faces mandatory retirement on March 1.

Christie has emphasized that he wants to remake the Supreme Court, which he blames for tying his hands on such issues as financing poor school districts and affordable housing.

Harris graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College, and with honors from Boston University Graduate School of Management. He earned a law degree from Yale. In addition to serving as mayor of Chatham, he most recently worked at the law firm of Greenberg Traurig and previously at Riker, Danzi, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti.

Steve Goldstein, the chief executive of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization, said he was stunned when Christie called to tell him about the imminent nomination of Harris, 60, a graduate of Yale Law School. "As I told the governor right then and there, you could have picked me up off the floor," Goldstein said .

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, . . . said he was pleased by the diversity of the governor’s appointments, but had yet to examine their professional careers to determine their qualifications for the bench.

Scutari may be pleased with the nominees' diversity, but it's a safe bet that the Christianist/Tea Party crowd will be anything but pleased. Kudos to Governor Christie.