PR: Lonegan Urges Senators Not to Sign Off on Christie Supreme Court Picks Unless Nominees Reject Judicial Activism

January 24, 2012 JHealthcare & entitlements

BOGOTA, NJ – Steve Lonegan, Americans for Prosperity State Director, today urged seven State Senators whose “sign off” is required for two State Supreme Court nominees to have hearings, not to give their approval unless the two nominees reject the concept of judicial activism that has been the Court’s hallmark.

The seven state Senators include four from Bergen County who must sign off on Phillip Kwon’s nomination, two from Morris County who must sign off on Mayor Bruce Harris’s nomination, and Senator Tom Kean (R-21) from Union County whose district includes Harris’s home town of Chatham Borough.

No hearings can occur on the nominees until the Senators all sign off on the nominations. “They are the first line of review here, and we’re urging them to take their responsibility seriously,” he added.
Other Senators who must sign off include, in the case of Kwon, Paul Sarlo (D-36), Loretta Weinberg (D-37) and Bob Gordon (D-38). Besides Kean, Harris’s nomination must be signed off by Senators Anthony Bucco (R-25) and Joe Pennacchio (R-26).

“These seven Senators represent some of the most overtaxed districts in the state and owe their constituents more than just due diligence in reviewing these nominees,” Lonegan added.

“Bergen, Morris and upper Union County homeowners are seeing their tax bills skyrocket and their quality of life decline thanks to the left-wing Abbott Decisions and the infamous Mount Laurel Cases,” Lonegan said. “It’s up to the State Senators who represent these overtaxed and overburdened regions to use their ‘sign-off’ carefully to insure that these judges are not as bad as the liberal activists they are replacing.”

“This is a historic opportunity to remake the Supreme Court from a liberal activist court to one that respects the Constitution and the rule of law,” he noted, adding that their “radical” decisions “have given New Jersey the highest taxes in the country, the highest unemployment in the region and just about the biggest population loss of any state in the nation.”

Lonegan said he was skeptical at best that the nominees are anything but what he called “more of the same.”

“Neither Mr. Kwon, top assistant to former liberal Attorney General Paula Dow whose main qualification seems to be that he was not born in this country, nor Mayor Harris, whose main qualification seems to be that he is gay, have any record as jurors nor are their views known on any issues facing our state and most particularly our State Supreme Court,” Lonegan said. “This makes it difficult to determine where they stand on judicial activism, the role of the judiciary or their basic beliefs regarding the role of government and our Constitution, however the praise the Governor received from left-wing ideologues over their nomination is at the least, very troubling.”

“For four decades the New Jersey Supreme Court has dominated the state government. Republicans and Democrats have used this court as an excuse for their abdication of their responsibility to govern,” he noted. “The end result is the highest taxes in the country resulting in the loss of our economic prosperity and the outward-bound migration of many of our friends and neighbors. The seven senators who have to sign off on these nominations before they can proceed owe it to their constituents that they are choosing judges who will fight for taxpayers versus left-wing ideological special interests,” Lonegan added.

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