Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made a surprise appearance at the US Supreme Court on Tuesday for oral arguments in the “Bridgegate” case that wrecked his political career.
Christie and wife Mary Pat sat in the gallery’s front row, directly in front of former aide Bridget Anne Kelly, who’s appealing her conviction for scheming to repeatedly tie up traffic approaching the George Washington Bridge in 2013.
“I hope he had a harder time seeing me than I had seeing him,” Kelly said afterward.
Christie left without speaking to reporters.
During opening statements at her 2016 trial with co-defendant and former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni, Kelly’s lawyer claimed she was thrown “under the presidential bus” in the Bridgegate scandal, which helped end Christie’s bid for the White House that year.
Kelly and Baroni were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy for creating gridlock to punish Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor Mark Sokolich, for refusing to endorse the 2013 re-election of GOPer Christie.
On Monday, several members of the Supreme Court appeared to side with Kelly and Baroni, who also attended the hourlong hearing.
“I just don’t see how this case works,” Justice Stephen Breyer said.
A ruling is expected by late June.