Total Assholes On The Bench

Judge T. S. Ellis III was a Reagan appointee and I'm beginning to think that that has a lot to do with why he's on the verge of outrageously and openly favoring the defense side of the Paul Manafort trial.  The rule that when a judge does things like hold up one side to mockery - accusing a prosecutor of crying in court - that you're not supposed to bring his partisan affiliation and loyalties into the discussion of his behavior is ridiculous, a product of the phony piety the Judiciary have had mounted on their behalf. 

I think the only reason he's not developing into a pop-culture figure like the infamous Judge Ito who let the O.J. Simpson trial turn into the world's longest and worst circus act is because there are no cameras allowed in federal court, cameras in the court is a trend which I do thank Judge Ito for discrediting. 

I think it's becoming clearer with every report of Ellis's biased behavior that he doesn't belong on an American bench.  He's sounding ever more like one of the judges in the Rumpole story, except in this case he's clearly favoring Trump's former campaign chairman. 

It does rather amaze me how big an asshole a judge is allowed to get because there isn't any real way to reign them in.  It doesn't surprise me as much as it once would because judges do all kinds of totally outrageous and assholish things such as claiming that babies and toddlers brought up before them for deportation can get justice when they can't even talk.  I wish I could find the quotes from the one who claimed he could make a 4-year-old girl understand the relevant law.  I wish I could see the facial expression of the judge as he told that whopper of a lie, back during the Obama administration.  One of the reasons that Ellis's behavior is so noteworthy is because he's being an asshole to the prosecution.  I would guess that most judges either being or aspiring to be upper class, the profession comes down hardest on those without money and, so, power.

I don't know what the answer for judicial a-holes is but I think Judge Ellis is past the point where we should just figure it's a charming judicial eccentricity.  This trial is about serious things, many people ended up dead and maimed in Ukraine as Paul Manafort profited from propping up the Russian puppet there.  I doubt Judge Ellis cares about that, the cold-bloodedness of many judges and lawyers is pretty awful.  And there is a lot more to the history of Paul Manafort than just that.  Ellis queering the trial to get him off is too serious to smile over his behavior and his own motives are relevant to consider, now.   And I don't mean by hiring the Dancing Ellises.