Ex-Judges See ‘Grave Threat’ in Trump Official’s ‘War’ Talk (1)

A group of former federal judges is pushing back against a Trump administration official’s call for attorneys to join the “war” against the judiciary.

The Keep Our Republic’s Article III Coalition said Thursday that the language used by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche “poses a grave threat to the rule of law and the judiciary.” Blanche said at a Federalist Society conference on Nov. 7 that young lawyers should join the Justice Department “because it is a war, and it’s something we will not win unless we keep on fighting.”

The group, which features 50 former federal judges, said that language “especially when voiced by high-ranking officials—not only endangers individual judges and court staff, but also undermines the public’s trust in the judiciary as an impartial and co-equal branch of government.”

When reached for comment, Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin pointed to a Wednesday tweet by Blanche, in which he said “lol” about a New York State Bar Association statement against his remarks.

President Donald Trump and his allies, including DOJ officials, have repeatedly attacked federal judges who have ruled against the administration’s policies. House Republicans have filed articles of impeachment against some judges, although no impeachment proceedings have begun. Chief Justice John Roberts has pushed back against the use of impeachment as a way to oppose bad rulings, saying officials should appeal instead.

Allyson Duncan, a former judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, said that the nation’s founders didn’t “design a system of government built on warfare between branches.”

“They built a system of deliberate tension—where courts, Congress, and the executive branch check each other,” Duncan, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said in a statement. “Calling judges ‘rogue’ because they apply the law in a politically unfavorable way is a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the judiciary in our constitutional structure.”

The coalition noted that the rhetoric is coming as threats rise against federal judges. There were 564 threats to federal judges last fiscal year, and 45 this fiscal year as of Oct. 15, according to the US Marshals Service.