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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.
"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.
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.
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.
