Meet Judge John McConnell Jr. He is the judge who has issued a Temporary Restraining Order prohibiting President Trump from freezing any federal funds in order to root out waste.
Fraud? No big deal. This is the bureaucrats' money to spend as they see fit.
So who is he?
Once you learn how Federal Judge John J. McConnell Jr. earned his lifelong appointment as a federal judge, you'll better understand his ruling against the Trump Administration.
— Soquel by the Creek (@SoquelCreek) February 12, 2025
He earned his judgeship the old-fashioned way. https://t.co/OC89Bf4inj pic.twitter.com/cXfRmQJl1O
Well, he is the kind of judge who, before he got his sweetheart gig, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats, is on the board of a government-funded NGO that is seeing its funding frozen, whose daughter works for the Department of Education. He was a donor to the Obama, Clinton, and Joe Biden campaigns in 2008, covering his bases. He was also a major donor to Senator Whitehouse--and then he was appointed a federal judge.
Read the fulls story from @katesrichardson HERE 👇https://t.co/zez3JQao8L
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 10, 2025
McConnell isn't afraid of being called an activist judge because, well, he is an activist judge and quite proud of it. Now he is threatening criminal charges if Donald Trump doesn't do what he wants, which apparently is to keep shoveling money into his pet causes and his family's pockets.
https://t.co/8ZueRKtLkHhttps://t.co/0gm0SNBDdS
— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) February 10, 2025
And, because of course he does, McConnell is a big supporter of Critical Race Theory and thinks that Donald Trump is a "tyrant."
Judge John McConnell Jr. says as a "middle class, white male privileged person" he needs to "understand" criminals who are "women, black, or transgender" and that the "law applies to them where they are." pic.twitter.com/ZT9LTI7l5y
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025
He is perfectly happy to share his judicial philosophy with everybody, and that philosophy is quite easy to understand: it is his role to replace white people with blacks, so he focuses on hiring people who are "diverse."
Judge McConnell insists that it's okay for judges to let personal opinions influence their decisions.
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025
"I have opinions about a lot of things..."
(He was on the Finance Committee for a Hillary Clinton Campaign, 6-figure dem donor, and Planned Parenthood Board member.) pic.twitter.com/DvvgUD0nf4
He takes care to consider the feelings and experiences of criminals who are not "middle-class white men" because middle-class white men are all racists.
Judge McConnell then lamented that his Court was a bad example because it was "too white."
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025
He admits to exclusively hiring black people solely because they were "people of color." pic.twitter.com/xlREBhmIZJ
I don't know how many people so clearly purchase their federal judgeships, so perhaps pay to play is common. But generally speaking we expect judges who are so obviously conflicted by personal connections to actual flows of money in a case to recuse themselves, but judges like McConnell purchase those seats for a reason.
Judge McConnell then dunks on President Trump for not hiring enough racially diverse judges. pic.twitter.com/FgkrONWIv0
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) February 12, 2025
It's not like he personally needed the money. He wanted the power, and now he is using that power to tangle with the most powerful person in the world.
Judge John J. McConnell Jr.: U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
— Bale 🇺🇸 (@balelorn2) February 10, 2025
There might be a slight conflict of interest here? https://t.co/wGLmLfqVS5 pic.twitter.com/Ib0Io77tsT
I am not generally a fan of classifying judges by political party. I think it is fair to look at those factors if a decision is clearly partisan, but good and bad judges are appointed by presidents of both parties. The quality of their decisions and reasoning matter more than the party of the president who appointed them. I opposed President Bush's appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court because I thought it was a political payoff, not a good-faith effort to appoint a great Justice.
But politics does often play a role in both the appointments and the decisions, and this clearly is such a case. It may be that a fair judge would have issued a TRO, but McConnell clearly is not and could not be a fair judge. His conflicts of interest stand out like a beacon in the night, and he openly admits that he allows bias into his decision-making.
Maybe it's time to use the impeachment clause in the Constitution.
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