The police lieutenant at the center of the infamous Hoboken SWAT Team scandal of 2007 appeared in court today as he appealed his termination.

Angelo Andriani, who was fired last May for a January 2010 incident at a Tampa, Fla., airport, appeared before Administrative Law Judge Imre Karaszegi, Jr. in Newark earlier this morning, according to Andriani's attorney Gerald Miller.

Andriani who has been fighting to be reinstated, cleared a hurdle in October 2010 when an Administrative Law Judge ruled that he should have been suspended three months. In February, the Civil Service Commission amended the ALJ ruling to a six-month suspension.

Miller said today was "just another day of trial," and said that even though Andriani has two court dates in November, he doesn't expect the case to be over anytime soon.

He is not, however, discouraged.

"I'm optimistic that we'll be successful," said the Jersey City-based attorney.

At the time of the airport incident, in which Andriani became enraged and flashed a police badge at employees, Andriani was under suspension with pay — $11,000 a month — for his role in the conduct of SWAT members on two goodwill trips to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

Andriani, a 23-year police force veteran at the time he was suspended, was not charged in the airport incident. In his suspended status, Andriani shouldn't have been carrying a badge, Hoboken officials said.

Hoboken has appealed the Civil Service Commission's ruling. Today, city spokesman Juan Melli offered no comment on the case since it is pending litigation.