FIRST ON FOX: Judge Judith Sheindlin, better known to fans as Judge Judy, is endorsing Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential race.

"I'm proud to endorse Nikki Haley because she is whip smart, has executive credentials and was a superb governor," Sheindlin said in a statement. "She has international gravitas as Ambassador to the United Nations. She is principled, measured and has that illusive quality of real common sense. I truly think she can restore America and believe she is the future of this great nation."

Haley returned the compliment, calling the judge a "no-nonsense lady."

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"Judge Judy is a no-nonsense lady who has earned the respect of millions of Americans from her courtroom by being thoughtful, fair, and honest. I’m honored to have her support," Haley said in a press release. 

Thanks in part to her performances in the first three Republican presidential primary debates, Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in former President Trump's administration, has in the past month caught up with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the latest Iowa polls, and in national surveys, for a distant second place behind Trump.

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And Haley is now in second place to Trump in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary.

"We can feel the momentum on the ground," Haley said in a Fox News interview this past weekend. "We can feel the excitement."

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For 25 years, Sheindlin starred on the beloved show "Judge Judy," where her witty retorts in the courtroom earned her millions of dedicated fans. Instead of stepping away from television for good, she is now the presiding judge on Amazon Freevee's "Judy Justice," which became Freevee’s No. 1 original show with more than 150 million viewers over the past two years.

Sheindlin is a graduate of New York Law School, was appointed to the bench in New York City's Family Court in 1982 and became the Supervising Judge of the Manhattan Court in 1986. 

Haley participated in a Fox News town hall on Monday, where she touted her foreign policy experience and said President Biden's policies are making America "vulnerable and putting us at risk." She also accused both Trump and DeSantis of cherrypicking her comments on illegal immigration and Hillary Clinton to try and paint her as a liberal, suggesting her opponents are twisting her words because she's surging in the polls.

She also notably said that the Supreme Court should keep Trump on the ballot, because she plans to beat him "fair and square," without outside help from Democrats in Colorado and other states.

"No, he shouldn't be taken off the ballot and the Supreme Court needs to rule quickly before other states start to do this," Haley said. "This is one of those, don't open a door if you don't want to see what happens this is a door we don't need to open. I will defeat President Trump fair and square. I don't need anybody throwing him off the ballot to do it."

The Iowa caucuses take place on January 15.