On his first full day in office, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) issued an executive order limiting political donations by labor unions that have public contracts. The order meant unions would be subject to the same limitations as "business entities" such as law and engineering firms that have state contracts worth more than $17,500. Yesterday a state appeals court decided it was perfectly fine to keep the playing field uneven.

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The three-judge panel (comprised of Judges Edwin H. Stern, Jack M. Sabatino and Jonathan N. Harris) ruled that the executive order infringed on separation of powers and such donation limits must be pursued through the legislature. With both houses of the state legislature currently under Democratic control, there is little chance of such a remedy being possible without a major electoral shift.

The court's ruling will not take effect until July 1 to allow for a potential review by the Supreme Court but union officials are smugly declaring absolute victory in the battle between corruption and fair participation in the election process. Hetty Rosenstein, the lead plaintiff in the case and the New Jersey state director of the Communications Workers of America union, said she did not expect the governor to appeal. "The decision was very comprehensive and very clear," she said. "This was a big deal because it was so obviously a bid by the governor to shut down his political opposition." (source)

In fact, Governor Christie is still considering whether to appeal, seek legislation, or find some other way to accomplish the goal. "We're going to look at all of our different options," he said at a press conference. "The executive order was about achieving a policy objective, and that is to level the playing field. I don't think that there is one class of speech that should be regulated, and another class of speech that should not be." (source)

The idea is reminiscent of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which forced the application of political free speech rights fairly. (source) Hopefully Governor Christie will find a way to make sure New Jersey does the same.