'This Is Not Normal': US Judge Denounces Trump's Attacks on Judiciary

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'This Is Not Normal': US Judge Denounces Trump's Attacks on Judiciary

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'This Is Not Normal': US Judge Denounces Trump's Attacks on Judiciary

"He seems to view the courts and the justice system as obstacles to be attacked and undermined, not as a co-equal branch to be respected even when he disagrees with its decisions,” U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said in remarks Wednesday in Washington.

By C. Ryan Barber | November 07, 2019 at 12:47 PM



Senior District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM)

A federal judge on Wednesday publicly denounced Donald Trump over his attacks on the judiciary, declaring that the president has undermined confidence in the legal system by impugning members of the federal bench and disparaging decisions against his administration.

Senior Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, delivering the annual Judge Thomas A. Flannery Lecture in Washington, highlighted several examples from the past two years in which Trump assailed judges for ruling against his administration.

Friedman bemoaned what he said was the growing belief that jurists reflexively decide cases in line with their political beliefs, and he said at least some of the blame for that trend rests with Trump.

“We are in uncharted territory,” Friedman said, in an address trumpeting the importance of an independent judiciary.
“We are witnessing a chief executive who criticizes virtually every judicial decision that doesn’t go his way and denigrates judges who rule against him, sometimes in very personal terms. He seems to view the courts and the justice system as obstacles to be attacked and undermined, not as a co-equal branch to be respected even when he disagrees with its decisions.”

Later, he added: “This is not normal. And I mean that both in the colloquial sense and in the sense that this kind of personal attack on courts and individual judges violates all recognized democratic norms.”

Friedman’s remarks, rare for a sitting trial judge, were met with a standing ovation inside the ceremonial courtroom of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse. Many judges from the federal trial and appeals courts were in attendance, along with Trump appointees, including Jessie Liu, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” said Senior Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee and former chief judge of the federal trial bench, as the event concluded.

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C. Ryan Barber, based in Washington, covers government affairs and regulatory compliance. Contact him at [e-mail]. On Twitter: @cryanbarber

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Thank god that there are tons of decent and upright judges that do believe in the rule of law...nt

[Igel]

5. Actually, there are a lot of people like Trump.

The difference is that they're not the president, but the idea that any decision that goes against you means the judge is depraved or biased (at best, incompetent) and politically motivated in his/her judgment is fairly common.

The idea that the judge might actually have evidence or an argument on their side ... That's crazy talk.

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Trumps a dictator wannabe. Of course he sees both the legislative and judicial branches as obstacles

to his complete control. He wants to be a little stupider Putin.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Trump thinks he gets to be dictator.

[MBS]

4. The standing ovation gave me hope.

I wonder if Trump appointees Rod Rosenstein and federal prosecutor Jesse Liu (both of them in attendance, according to the article) were among those giving him a standing ovation. In general, it would be interesting to know who gave him the standing O.