According to a report from the New Republic, a judge placed on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by Donald Trump despite being labeled as both "not qualified" and "lazy," is infuriating his colleagues with personal attacks in his rambling opinions that often face reviews upon appeal.
According to Matt Ford of the New Republic, Judge Lawrence VanDyke -- a member of the Federalist Society -- has been a thorn in the side of his fellow judges since his appointment two years ago, particularly when it comes to cases involving the 2nd Amendment.
As Ford notes, VanDyke's 2019 appointment and subsequent hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was notable after he sobbed and wept (see video clip below) over an appraisal by the American Bar Association that said he had no place on the court.
According to the New Republic report, "VanDyke’s road to the federal judiciary was rocky, to say the least. After former President Trump nominated him to the Ninth Circuit in September 2019, the American Bar Association rated him as 'not qualified' and, in an unusually blunt letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, described him as 'arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules,' based on interviews with roughly 60 lawyers and judges who worked with him. It went on to say that he 'lacks humility, has an ‘entitlement’ temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful.'"
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Nonetheless, the Republican-majority Senate at that time, approved the former president's nominee and things, according to Ford, have gone downhill since then.
"VanDyke’s behavior on the Ninth Circuit may have been predictable, then, but that doesn’t make it any less troubling. In one immigration case, VanDyke accused other Ninth Circuit judges of 'barely disguised shenanigans' and 'mischief,' while in another he called circuit precedent 'silly' and said the court had a 'nasty habit of muddling immigration law,'" the report states.
In another case involving guns and high-capacity magazines, VanDyke went so far as to accuse his fellow judges of being hypocrites who live privileged lives in his dissent.
“Ultimately, it is not altogether surprising that federal judges, who have armed security protecting their workplace, home security systems supplied at taxpayer expense, and the ability to call an armed marshal to their upper-middle class home whenever they feel the whiff of a threat, would have trouble relating to why the average person might want a magazine with over ten rounds to defend herself,” he wrote.
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That statement led to a rebuke from fellow Judge Susan Graber who wrote in her footnotes, "A ban on large-capacity magazines cannot reasonably be considered a ban on firearms any more than a ban on leaded gasoline, a ban on dangerously designed gas tanks, or speed limits could be considered a ban on cars.”
Judge Andrew Hurwitz was more direct in his criticism of the Trump appointee, writing, "That language is no more appropriate (and no more founded in fact) than would be a statement by the majority that today’s dissenters are willing to rewrite the Constitution because of their personal infatuation with firearms."
Additionally, Hurwitz took issue with VanDyke’s smears by writing that he, “neither advances our discourse nor gives intellectual support to the legal positions argued by my respected dissenting colleagues.”
Ford goes on to note that, for now, the Ninth Circuit is stuck with the judge, writing: "The few remedial powers that the federal courts possess over their own judges are not designed to address rudeness or incivility. It’s supposed to be the job of the president and the Senate to ensure that nominees with the appropriate temperament reach the federal bench—a duty that Republicans appear to have failed. And public chastisement by his colleagues doesn’t appear to have had any effect on his open disdain toward them. As a result, VanDyke will almost certainly continue to exercise judicial power for the rest of his life, no matter how much he demeans American jurisprudence along the way."
You can read about more of VanDyke's shenanigans compiled by Ford here, and see a clip of his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee below.
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