I’m not a particular fan of Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, but he deserves credit for standing up to a bigoted attack on someone he recently appointed to a superior court judgeship, an experienced attorney named Sohail Mohammed, who was born in Indian and came to the U.S. at the age of 10. As one might expect, Mohammed’s Muslim religion has provoked complaints about the appointment, including baseless charges that he would impose Sharia law. But Governor Christie is having none of it, as his sharp response to press questions in this 4-minute video clip from July 27 demonstrates:

In brief, Christie says that “Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed,” noting Mohammed’s role “in building bridges between the Muslim-American community in this state and law enforcement” as well as successfully representing innocent Muslims locked up in FBI sweeps after 9-11. (Christie incidentally served as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey 2002-2009.) Saying that Mohammed has a record of adhering to his oath to support the law and the Constitutions of New Jersey and the United States, he adds, “This Sharia law business is crap — it’s just crazy — and I’m tired of dealing with the crazies.”

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