Judge Wants NJ Supreme Court To Lighten Up

Hackensack, N.J. - A New Jersey judge is asking the state's Supreme Court to lighten up.

Attorneys for Vince A. Sicari plan to argue Tuesday that the South Hackensack municipal court judge should be allowed to keep his other paying gig as a comedian.

Sicari is appealing a 2008 state ethics committee ruling that he can't work as an entertainer to supplement his $13,000 a year part-time job as a judge.

Sicari says he has always kept the two jobs separate, and performs under the name Vince August.

The committee says it's concerned about impressions of bias or impropriety in some of the characters he has depicted in regular comedy club shows, network television appearances and as a warm-up for Comedy Central audiences.