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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFirst-time judge appointed by Trump issues his very first opinion. Its a doozy.
This is not how judges are supposed to behave.
IAN MILLHISER APR 19, 2018, 1:19 PM
Judge James Ho has been a federal judge for only a few months. Until Wednesday, he had never handed down a judicial opinion in his life. But the Trump appointees very first opinion, a dissent calling for a sweeping assault on campaign contribution limits, is a doozy.
More than just an ideologically radical opinion, Judge Hos dissent from the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuits decision not to rehear Zimmerman v. City of Austin is a monument to conservative political rhetoric and right-wing historical myths. Its the sort of commentary one would expect to find in an especially strident political magazine perhaps one of the publications one of Hos current law clerks used to write for. It is emphatically not the sort of writing one expects to find in a judicial opinion.
Newly confirmed judges or, at least, newly confirmed judges who arent named Neil Gorsuch are typically more careful than this. They dont use their very first opinion to burn down the distinction between law and political myth-making.
The core issue in Zimmerman involves an Austin, Texas ordinance prohibiting candidates for mayor or city council from accepting campaign donations greater than $350. It is constitutional, even after the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision, to limit contributions directly to candidates the federal contribution limit of $2,700, for example, is constitutional even under the Roberts Courts reading of the Constitution.
https://thinkprogress.org/james-ho-campaign-finance-hack-70a2ce3477bc/
-snip-
"There is simply no way to know, in other words, whether modern campaign finance laws disfavor rights that the founding generation understood the Constitution to protect. As Doug Kendall and Jim Ryan once wrote of Justice Clarence Thomas originalism, asking how 18th Century figures would have reacted to such a transformed landscape is as productive as asking an only child: Imagine you have a sister. Now, does she like cheese?
And lets not forget he was confirmed by a fucking majority. Did anyone remember seeing this "guy' during the confirmation process, he like to make up imaginary rulings......................he needs to be IMPEACHED
November 2018 cannot get here fast enough
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,732 posts)turbinetree
(24,703 posts)this is just amazing.............that he thinks that he can think what James Madison would have thought......................
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Nothing originalist about the Heller decision. Scalia was nothing more than a partisan hack masquerading as a principaled jurist. Thats what he seems to have most in common with this guy.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,732 posts)that would require critical thought.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)The so-called originalist simply cherry picks the references and interpretes them in a way that suits the agenda.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)JHB
(37,160 posts)Who put the guy's name in front of His Mangoness?
If memory serves, the Heritage Foundation was creating Donnie's short list for judge picks. Mainline conservativism.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Impeach.
Impeach.
Impeach the judges. In 2019.
Impeach them all, one by one. Do Gorsuch last.
Impeach.