NAACP: N.J. Gov. Christie wants to steal Supreme Court to undo decades of progress on fair housing

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. . . and many other issues.

James Harris at the Star_Ledger: http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/03/naacp_nj_gov_chris_christie_wa.html


Sunday, March 18, 2012

_____ On Thursday, the New Jersey Appellate Division found that Gov. Chris Christie had acted illegally in abolishing the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing. The court rightly invalidated Christie’s blatantly unlawful action to undo decades of progress on fair housing.

. . . New Jersey remains, according to the 2010 Census, among the most segregated places in America. That is largely because, as a Brookings Institution study found, New Jersey’s zoning is the most exclusionary in the country . . .

Christie’s response has not been to address this problem, but instead to act in a state of illegality. First, he tried to shut down COAH by executive order, without consulting the Legislature. When the courts struck that down, he urged the Legislature to pass legislation that was, according to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, unconstitutional. Then he tried to eliminate COAH through action invalidated on Thursday, claiming he had power to abolish any independent state agency.

In nominating Bruce Harris and Phillip Kwon to the state Supreme Court, Christie has done what no other governor has ever done — tried to make the Supreme Court an arm of his political party. Govs. Jon Corzine and James McGreevey nominated Republicans to the court; Govs. Tom Kean and Christie Whitman, Democrats; all to keep the court balanced and impartial. Now, Christie is asking the Legislature to accept three Republican nominations in a row. He is open that he is doing so to remove the court’s independence; according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Christie wants to “change the court” to agree with him and force them “to admit on behalf of their predecessors that they were wrong.”

In September, the NAACP joined the Black Issues Convention, Garden State Bar Association and the Latino Action Network, among others, in calling for Christie to uphold the bipartisan, independent nature of the court. He has failed to do so. Unless the Senate acts to preserve the court’s impartial nature, we risk a blank check for the governor to make the law what he wants, with no obligation to follow the Constitution or laws on the books — on fair housing and many other issues . . .


read more: http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/03/naacp_nj_gov_chris_christie_wa.html

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1. I can't believe my eyes!

FatChristie is really staying busy doing evil!

To think that they are begging him to run for President.

Bet he was eating donuts while planning his lowdown deeds.

I am sick ,sick, sick of this ~ this is not AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, AMERICA is being controlled by a bunch of THUGS!

Thank you NAACP for staying on top of this ( and so many other critical issues) but ino order for us to make a differance WE will have to devote our individual time to supporting the real America.

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2. Republicans don't like either the two-party system or separation of powers

This isn't just Christie. It's clear in everything from the crazy GOP redistricting schemes to statements the current bunch of presidential candidates have made about the sweeping executive orders they dream of issuing on their first day in office.

It's becoming painfully clear that the Republican dream is of systematically destroying anything that could stand in the way of unlimited power, from Planned Parenthood and the labor unions to the concept of an independent judiciary.

And when they're not dreaming of politicizing the judiciary entirely, they're at least scheming how to deprive ordinary citizens of access to justice, whether by outlawing class action lawsuits or by demonizing trial lawyers.

Can we call it fascism yet?