N.J. Supreme Court's refusal to hear gay marriage case raises question of Christie's influence

[NJmaverick]

TRENTON — The New Jersey Supreme Court doesn't give interviews, so no one can ask whether the tribunal balked on the gay marriage issue because it was afraid of the reaction of Gov. Chris Christie.
"There won't be any comment," says Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for the court. "Of course, people are free to speculate. There is nothing we can do about that."
Comfort made the comments in response to remarks by legislators who raised the issue of whether the court — or, at least, three members — might have been afraid to touch the gay marriage case because Christie can remove them by appointing other justices. The way he did to Justice John Wallace, the court's only African-American.
Both state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Assemblyman John D. McKeon (D-Essex) told The Star-Ledger's Matt Friedman the decision raised the question of whether Wallace's ouster led three non-permanent court members to duck the issue.

This is beyond troubling

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2010/08/nj_supreme_court_justices_who.html