A federal judge on Tuesday issued a blistering rebuke of President Donald Trump and his administration's efforts to deport non-citizen professors and students who criticized the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
Judge Bill Young, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan in Massachusetts, slammed Trump and the administration in a stunning 161-page opinion. He outlines how the White House's actions have not only chilled political expression but were meant to strike fear in non-citizens sharing their political beliefs.
"My God, I have rarely seen something as jaw-dropping as this from a judge," CNN's Katelyn Polantz reports. "He has been on the bench for quite a long time, so he's done a lot of this sort of work. This case, it's about chilling the ability of people to protest Israel or for Palestine on college campuses. And he writes about some of the circumstances that have taken place on college campuses where pro-Palestinian advocates have then been targeted by the administration, had visas revoked, even been arrested or jailed."
Young, in his detailed opinion, says the administration cannot do that, and, that non-citizens in the United States should have the same free speech protections as American citizens.
"That's one way to talk about this case. But this opinion is astonishing for a different reason," Polantz said. "It is a complete and utter broadside by this sitting federal judge against the president and what this administration has been doing, trying to just curtail the speech, the protest abilities, all kinds of activities by people who are not citizens of the United States in the U.S., currently."
At one point, the judge even points to his wife, and just what she has to say about Trump.
"One of the things that he says, he quotes his wife, says he doesn't discuss cases outside of chambers," Polantz said. "He quotes his wife about Donald Trump, saying he seems to be winning. He ignores everything and keeps bullying ahead."
But that's not all. The judge adds why this is problematic against the current backdrop of political division.
"The president himself approves truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech," she said. "And then he writes, I fear President Trump believes the American people are so divided today that they will not stand up, fight for and defend our most precious Constitutional values so long as they are lulled into thinking their own personal interests are not affected."
The judge also included a photocopied postcard someone had written him — an unusual move in an opinion, Polantz said.
"Another unusual thing. This is where what I would call the mic drop," she said.
"I don't know if Judge Young would use that. He was appointed to the bench in 1985," she joked.
What he writes, though, at the top of this opinion, is that he clearly had his chambers photocopy a postcard that someone sent him in June.
In the postcard, it says "Trump has pardons and tanks. What do you have?"
"Before he even starts the opinion, Judge Young puts that at the top of the page, then says, 'Dear Mr. And Mrs. Anonymous"... I have nothing but my sense of duty. Together, we the people of the United States, you and me, have our magnificent Constitution," Polantz said.
But how he signed it was also significant and fascinating, she said.
"Here's how that works out in a specific case, then writes this opinion, his ruling, and then at the end, as he signs it, he signs it 'William Young, judge of the United States,' not district of Massachusetts, Federal district judge. Judge of the United States. Noting that that's how his predecessor, judge in the lead up to civil of the Civil War, signed opinions and that he's doing that now in honor of all of his judicial colleagues standing with them. And he then puts a note at the end to the person who apparently sent him that threatening postcard says, 'thanks for writing. It shows you care. You should.'"
Polantz predicts the Trump administration will appeal his ruling, as they have others. But that's not what this judge aimed to do.
"And they are absolutely within their right to appeal a ruling of a federal district judge," she added. "But Judge Young is, I'm sure, that there are going to be a lot of people looking very closely at what Judge Young has written here. And then also done on the platform that he has."
