Gov. Chris Christie moved to diversify the state's all-white Supreme Court on Monday with two firsts: the nominations of an openly gay black man and a Korean-born prosecutor to fill two vacancies.

If confirmed, Bruce A. Harris would become New Jersey's first openly gay justice, and Phillip H. Kwon would become its first Asian representative and the first justice born outside the United States.

Christie, a Republican, said he had "extreme confidence" in the records and intellects of his nominees, neither of whom has been a judge.

"I felt strongly about making sure the court have diversity but first and foremost that the court have quality justices who make sure they take the court in a direction that is a responsible one for the future of our state and its people," Christie said at a news conference attended by the nominees and their families.

Harris, 61, is the Republican mayor of Chatham Borough in Morris County, a post Christie said he would give up if confirmed. He would be the third African-American to be seated on the court.

A judge has ruled demonstrators don't have a First Amendment right to protest Friday afternoon in front of a New York City federal courthouse that has hosted several major terrorism trials.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said Thursday he wouldn't order the federal government to let an Occupy the Courts demonstration occur outside the lower Manhattan courthouse. He says the space isn't a public forum and the government acted reasonably in denying a permit.

A government lawyer says the courthouse poses unique security concerns in part because of terrorism fears.

Protest organizers had asked the judge to overturn the General Services Administration's rejection of their permit application. Their lawsuit said their First Amendment rights were violated.

The nationwide protest marks the second anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against limits on spending by independent organizations.

A federal appeals court has upheld the firing of an Indiana sheriff's deputy who accused the department of racism in part because detectives watched excerpts from the movie "Blazing Saddles" in his presence.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Warrick County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Harris' 2007 firing for insubordination was legal. Harris was let go during a standard one-year probationary period.

Harris claimed white officers on probation received better treatment despite their performance problems. Harris also claimed other deputies gave him racially tinged nicknames modeled after African-American TV characters, according to court documents.

A federal judge in Indianapolis, however, ruled there wasn't enough evidence to show discrimination, and the appeals court agreed.

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal seeking to expand the ability of foreigners to contribute to American political campaigns.

The justices on Monday upheld a federal court ruling in favor of the ban on foreign contributions from all but immigrants who permanently live in the United States.

Washington lawyer Michael Carvin wanted the justices to extend their 2010 decision in the Citizens United case allowing greater political participation by corporations and labor unions. Carvin sued on behalf of two people with visas to work in the United States.

A three-judge court in Washington said Congress was well within its powers when it prohibited most foreigners from making campaign contributions.

Court documents reveal grisly details about the hatchet killing of one woman and the razor attack of another in northwest Missouri, crimes that have been connected to a Platte City man.

Quintin P. O'Dell, a 22-year-old Eagle Scout, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said the death penalty would be considered in the Platte County Circuit Court case.

O'Dell is jailed in Platte County on a $750,000 cash-only bond. There is no record of him having an attorney, according to the prosecutor's office.

The investigation into the hatchet attack began this spring after the body of Alissa Faye Shippert, 22, was discovered. She had been attacked while fishing in the Platte Falls Conservation Area.

But O'Dell, who had worked with Shippert at a convenience store, wasn't charged in the crime until after he was questioned in the December razor attack. The victim in that incident, a 21-year-old woman, awoke in her Ferrelview apartment the morning after Christmas with her belly slashed open.

Authorities said she was unconscious and on a ventilator for several days after the attack. According to the probable cause statement, she gradually began sharing details with investigators, including that she had spent Christmas night drinking with O'Dell.

According to court documents, O'Dell was interviewed by investigators this past week and told them he called the woman Christmas night and asked if he could "hang out." She agreed and he arrived after 11 p.m. with a six-pack of beer and a bottle of tequila, a detective said in the probable cause statement.

The Utah Court of Appeals has refused to dismiss charges against a couple accused of killing their baby in 2006 by sleeping with him — their second child to die in bed with them.

The appeals judges sided with a lower court in a pair of opinions released Friday concerning the death of 3-month-old Kayson Merrill. The infant died while in bed between his father, Trevor Merrill, and mother, Echo Nielsen, both 28, of South Jordan.

The judges said that while a state medical examiner listed the official cause of death as "undetermined," there was enough evidence that "co-sleeping" caused the baby to suffocate to put the parents on trial.

The parents, whose first child also died while sleeping with them in 2003, have been charged with child-abuse homicide and reckless endangerment. They have pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorneys argued there wasn't enough certainty to go to trial after the medical examiner also cited illness and low birth weight in his report.