Christie nominates Bauman to N.J. Supreme Court

TRENTON - Gov. Christie, back in the national spotlight with his endorsement of Donald Trump, held a news conference here Monday on a different topic: a nomination to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

In calling on New Jersey Democrats to confirm Judge David Bauman of Monmouth County and fill the last seat on the seven-member court, Christie said Republicans should hold hearings on a U.S. Supreme Court nomination by President Obama - a stark contrast with the position taken by party leaders in Washington.

"As I've always said, I believe that's absolutely the right thing to do," Christie said. "People can vote up or down however they choose, but hearings should be held."

He refused to take questions on any other topic - including Trump, whom Christie backed Friday. Since then, Trump has stirred new controversy for refraining in a CNN interview Sunday from disavowing white supremacist David Duke.

"Permission denied," Christie told a reporter who tried to ask a question unrelated to the nomination. He rebuffed several other attempts, saying he wouldn't answer other questions "because I don't want to."

When a reporter asked whether Christie timed the court announcement to "distract attention from the firestorm over the Donald Trump endorsement," Christie answered sarcastically: "Of course, because I do something as serious as a Supreme Court nomination in 24 hours."

Christie's endorsement has been blasted by Trump critics, including some of the New Jersey governor's former supporters. He was pressed in an ABC interview Sunday on his support for a candidate whose policy positions he repeatedly criticized during his own campaign.

In an appearance Monday night on New Jersey 101.5's Ask the Governor, Christie reiterated that he did not agree with all of Trump's positions, but we "don't get to create the perfect candidate."

"I'm not a sit-on-the-sidelines guy," Christie said of his decision to endorse Trump. Part of his job in "helping" Trump was "for him to hear my points of view."

"I'm the highest-level endorser Donald Trump has had," Christie said. The governor, who said he would campaign for Trump on Tuesday in Ohio and Kentucky, said he didn't "bargain" with Trump. Asked whether he would accept the job as Trump's vice president, Christie said, "Why would I tell you?"

He also didn't rule out another run for president: "I don't foresee it, but I would never sit here today and say absolutely not."

Regarding his Supreme Court selection, Christie said he didn't speak with Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) before announcing Bauman's nomination Monday. "I called and got his voice mail," Christie said, noting that Sweeney was out of state.

Christie previously nominated Bauman - who would be the high court's first Asian American justice, the governor said - to the Supreme Court in 2012, but the confirmation didn't move forward in the Senate. The court's seventh seat, which has been filled by an appellate judge called up by the chief justice, has been the subject of a stalemate between Christie and Sweeney, who have disagreed on the court's partisan composition.

Bauman, 59, is assigned to the criminal division in Monmouth County. He was nominated to his post in 2008 by Gov. Jon S. Corzine. Christie noted that Bauman had been unanimously confirmed last year for tenure as a Superior Court judge by the Senate.

If Bauman is confirmed, Christie said, the Supreme Court would consist of four Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent - a split he said "preserves the tradition of partisan balance" on the court.

But Sweeney has said he intends to block Christie on the seat, currently held by Judge Mary Catherine Cuff. "We like it the way it is now," he told a Newark Star-Ledger columnist this month. "New Jersey is a moderate state, and we weren't going to give him an ultraconservative court."

Christie said in the radio interview Monday night that "all I read is what the Senate president said" in the Star-Ledger column, "which I thought was terribly ill-tempered."

Luke Margolis, a spokesman for Sweeney, said the Senate president was "not reachable for comment" Monday.

Asked at the news conference why he was making the nomination now, Christie said, "The spirit moved me."

He said that if Democrats don't confirm Bauman, the reason will be "nothing more than bald politics."

Christie's battle with Sweeney over the court dates to 2010, when the governor did not renominate Justice John Wallace - the first time in modern history that a sitting New Jersey justice had been denied tenure.

Democrats responded by blocking a number of Christie nominees to the court, though they have confirmed three during the governor's tenure. In 2013, the governor did not renominate a second sitting justice, Helen Hoens.

In 2014, when there were two vacant seats, Christie and Sweeney reached an agreement: Democrats confirmed a Republican nominee put forward by Christie, Lee Solomon, while the governor renominated Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, a Democrat.

At the time, Christie said he wasn't considering nominating a justice to fill the seventh seat. "It took us long enough to get to these two," the governor said at the May 2014 news conference, where, unlike Monday, he was joined by Sweeney.

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