Chris Christie draws a line in the sand of right-wing craziness

"This Sharia law business [i.e., that it has anything to do with lawyer Sohail Mohammed's suitability to be a judge] is crap. It's just crazy. And I'm tired of dealing with the crazies. . . . It's just unnecessary to be accusing the guy of things just because of his religious background."

by Ken

I don't take back anything I've said about the evil Chris Christie, but as I used to point out fairly frequently, before half of the American political spectrum declared itself officially decoupled from reality, the world is hierarchical, and Governor Christie deserves appropriate credit for drawing a line in the craziness. Today, in anticipation of the swearing in as a judge of lawyer Sohail Mohammed, a Christie appointee who has faced an appalling amount of flak simply for who he is, the governor spoke out.

Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed, [who] played an integral role in the post-September 11 period in building bridges between the Muslim American community in this state and law enforcement. [The governor went on to describe the role Mohammed played post-9/11 as a liaison to the state's Muslim community, scheduling dozens of meetings and encouraging them to trust the federal government.]

The folks who criticize my appointment of Sohail Mohammed are ignorant, absolutely ignorant of that, and they're criticizing him because he's a Muslim American, and because he represented people who were inappropriately detained by the FBI post-9/11. Now the fact of the matter is, there were lots of people inappropriately detained by the FBI post-9/11. It was a very difficult time for law enforcement. . . . None of [the people] that Sohail Mohammed represented ever were charged with any crimes of terrorism, and they were released, because of his diligence and zealous representation of them.

The governor was if anything more emphatic when a questioner raised the issue (I'm sorry I can't make out the actual question) of "Sharia law."

Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all. It's crazy! It's crazy -- the guy's an American citizen, who has been an admitted lawyer to practice in the state of New Jersey, swearing an oath to uphold the laws of New Jersey, the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, and the Constitution of the United States of America, and has never been accused of doing anything but, honorably and zealously, according to the oath he took when he became a lawyer.

I assume, from the simple fact that he was appointed by this governor, that Sohail Mohammed isn't my kind of guy, but the governor wasn't elected to appoint my kinds of guys. And the notion that he's unsuitable to serve simply because he's a Muslim is shocking and appalling and an abomination on the part of anyone who says it -- or, alas, simply thinks it. None of this should require stating in the year 2011.

Possibly it does require stating because so many of the "good Christians" who have been denouncing Mr. Mohammed actually believe that Christian law not only can but should supersede American law. Since, shamefully, it does require stating that Muslims are as fit for judicial service as any other Americans, full credit to Governor Christie for saying it and saying it so forcefully and unequivocally.

#