Battle Over Supreme Court Nomination in New Jersey Mirrors Battle for US Supreme Court Seat

New Jersey judges are selected basically the same way federal judges are: executive branch nominates and then senate votes to confirm. "All New Jersey judges are appointed initially to seven-year terms and must be re-nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate to gain tenure until the mandatory retirement age of 70," explains NJ.com.

Much like at the federal level where the executive belongs to one party and the senate majority comes from the other party, NJ's Republican governor Chris Christie faces a Democratic senate. NJ Senate President Stephen Sweeney declined to give a hearing to Christie's latest nominee to fill the final vacant seat on New Jersey's highest court. He said the governor is trying to "pack" the bench with Republicans in a heavily Democratic state.

Republican state Sen. Kevin O'Toole said Republicans "deserve a 4-2-1 advantage on the court because a long-standing, unwritten rule that the party of the sitting governor should have an edge.
[Democrat] Sweeney insists Bauman would actually give the GOP a 5-2 advantage because Justice Jaynee Lavecchia is actually a Republican despite being registered as an unaffiliated voter."

Conservative Criticism of Chris Christie's Judicial Nominees

by Carrie Severino (of Judicial Crisis Network) in National Review

Chris Christie's Judge Choices Criticized

by the conservative Judicial Crisis Network which says "Christie’s definition of a conservative sounds an awful lot like a liberal."
Christie adviser Mike DuHaime punched back: “They should get their facts straight,” DuHaime said. “Gov. Christie has nominated multiple conservatives to the Supreme Court, but several have been blocked by the Democrat state senate."

Politico summarizes: "A conservative judicial group is planning to run $75,000 in digital ads during New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s trip to Iowa later this week."

Republicans and Democrats Compromise on New Jersey Supreme Court

Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie decided to re-nominate a Democrat, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, as part of a deal with the Democratic President of the State Senate, Stephen Sweeney. AP reports Christie will have Sweeney’s support for Republican Judge Lee Solomon’s high court nomination in return.

This seems to me a great example of a senate confirmation system working as it should.  When the executive and legislative branches are held by different parties, the judicial branch gets judges from each party.  More on the NJ Supreme Court selection process is here

New Jersey Judicial Selection

The Politics of Reappointing a Sitting Judge

According to Record columnist Charles Stiles, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is thinking about "dumping" New Jersey chief justice Stuart Rabner, "former friend and co-worker, from the Supreme Court in June."

"Christie has depicted Rabner’s court as the poster child of the liberal, 'activist' court he’s determined to change."

Stiles writes: "Christie may be using Rabner’s renomination as leverage in negotiations with Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who has clashed with Christie over the partisan balance of the court. Sweeney has refused to schedule confirmation hearings on Christie’s last two nominees, arguing that the governor is trying to upend the traditional 4-3 partisan balance of the court."

Connection Between Chris Christie NJ Bridge Traffic and Selection to NJ Supreme Court?

Rachel Maddow suggests that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's efforts to get senate confirmation of his judicial nominees are the real reason his staff caused traffic problems by closing the bridge.