TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said last night that he hasn’t ruled out defying the state Supreme Court if it orders him to spend more money on poor public school students.
During the “Ask the Governor” radio program on New Jersey 101.5, Christie was asked whether he could just ignore the court if it ruled against him — a prospect that could compel him to restore up to $1.7 billion in school aid.
“That’s an option,” Christie replied. “I’m not going to sit here and speculate. … There are a whole bunch of options in the contingency plan.”
Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts last night would not say how seriously the governor is considering not complying.
Christie went on the attack against the state Supreme Court, a day after it heard oral arguments about whether he violated the state constitution by cutting public school funding last year.
Christie also took aim at Associate Justice Barry Albin, singling him out as an example of how “judges have lost their sense of place in our democracy.”
During the court’s arguments over the state’s obligation to its poorest students, Albin asked twice about the decision to not renew a “millionaires tax” to raise revenue.
Christie, during the radio show, said Albin sounded more like a “candidate for governor” than a “tenured judge.”
“He was advocating yesterday to put his hand in the pockets of the taxpayer of New Jersey, take money out of it and determine himself how that money should be spent,” Christie said.
Paul Tractenberg, a Rutgers law professor and founder of the Education Law Center, which filed the lawsuit challenging the cuts, said Christie’s comments go far beyond the usual grumbling about the court’s decisions.
“I don’t think governors have ever said flat-out they were thinking of ignoring a court order,” he said. “We’d be in uncharted terrain … We essentially convert government into a dictatorship.”
Robert Williams, a Rutgers School of Law-Camden professor, said ignoring the court would prompt a constitutional crisis.
He said Christie has a track record of being hostile to the court.