The New Jersey Senate judiciary committee on Thursday rejected by a 7-6 vote Gov. Chris Christie’s second state Supreme Court nominee in 70 days, reports the Newark Star-Ledger. Democrats said they voted down Chatham Borough Mayor Bruce Harris — a Republican who would have been the first openly gay and third African-American justice on the state Supreme Court — because he has no courtroom experience.
Christie said he would keep nominating Republicans to the seven-member court that now has only five justices — expecting that they'll keep getting defeated by Democrats. “The very fact that Bruce Harris was sacrificed in the name of politics is a dishonor to this institution and once again they've smeared a good person, his career, his character and his experience,” Christie said after Thursday's five-hour hearing. “So for the second time in a row, the Senate Democrats have made a mockery of the process, of the court and the good individuals who agreed to put themselves up for nomination in the name of serving their state.”