Activist judges, unveiled

 

Breitbart has an excellent article providing details of the activist judges who are trying to block President Trump's policies and executive orders.  It's eye-opening, to say the least.  Here's just one example.

Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, nominated by President Barack Obama

A Democrat donor, McConnell is attempting to block another spending freeze from Trump and is even taking the extreme approach of threatening administration officials with criminal charges if it is not reversed.

But McConnell is more than just a typical Democrat. He’s a committed activist, as the Daily Caller reported:

While he was in private practice as an attorney until 2009, McConnell donated hundreds of thousands to Democratic campaigns and political action committees, including 2008 presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, according to Federal Election Commission records. He also donated over $8,000 to Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s 2006 senate campaign.

He not only worked at the ACLU, but he was on the board of directors for the Rhode Island branch of Planned Parenthood for four years.

“The scale of McConnell’s political giving sets him apart from most other judges nominated during the Trump and Obama administrations,” according to Roll Call:

In the last 30 years, he contributed half a million dollars to federal political committees, more than any other judge nominated by Presidents Barack Obama or Donald Trump. About $190,000 went to members of Congress. At least $200,000 more went directly to the Democratic Party and its state affiliates, according to a review of Federal Election Commission records.

He contributed nearly $12,000 to Whitehouse and almost $9,000 to Rhode Island’s senior senator, Democrat Jack Reed. As his home-state senators, both had the power to propel or torpedo his nomination. Whitehouse was on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2011 and voted on McConnell’s confirmation to the federal bench that year. McConnell had also made contributions to top Democratic leaders such as Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Richard J. Durbin; and to Sen. Al Franken, who also voted on McConnell’s confirmation.

A person with this level of partisanship ought to be recused from any cases that are remotely political in nature.

There's more at the link.

The article is worth reading for its multiple examples of "judge-shopping" or "court-shopping".  Progressive activists try to bring their cases before such judges, in the sure knowledge that they're much more likely to get the results they want.

Peter