The federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze all funding pauses while federal spending is being assessed, has a history of anti-Trump and woke activism.
Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island can be seen in video footage from 2021 accusing Trump of being “a dictator” and claiming that “racism is a white people problem” and that “we all have racism inside of us.”
McConnell, who was appointed by president Obama, has ordered Trump to resume all paused funding and to restore any funds that have been withheld or potentially face criminal contempt charges.
The judge also mandated that if Trump wishes to delay any payment, he will need to first need to seek McConnell’s permission and justify the request to the judge’s satisfaction.
Commentator Scott Jennings, in a discussion on CNN earlier this week, posed the question to fellow panelists as to whether an unelected judge can cover up fraud but the sitting president is powerless to stop it.
Fellow commentator and former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu raised the possibility that McConnell’s actions, in conjunction with 23 state Attorneys General, were the product of “judge shopping” and that “judges don’t just randomly get these cases.”
Sununu told the CNN panel that “there’s a reason that these cases are filed in Boston and Rhode Island.”
The question of whether the president is subordinate to 300 district court judges will likely find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court for further clarification.
In the meantime, Judge McConnell’s anti-Trump statements and history of activism casts serious doubt on his ability to maintain impartiality.