Last week, a federal judge in Rhode Island demanded that DHS take down a press release. The release was factually true: It warned citizens that Judge Melissa DuBose had ordered the release of an illegal alien wanted for murder in the Dominican Republic. Because the press release reflects legitimate debate regarding a judge’s ruling, DHS refused to take it down.
Over his four years in office, President Biden transformed large portions of the judiciary by appointing judges so radical that senators like Joe Manchin would not even support them. For sixteen months, DHS has suffered the consequences of that transformation.
In Rhode Island, the dispute arose because a federal court ordered ICE to release Mr. Bryan Rafael Gomez, an illegal alien subject to an international arrest warrant for murder in the Dominican Republic. After that order came down, DHS issued a press release explaining that a judge in Rhode Island had ordered the release of a man wanted for murder.
While Chief Justice John Roberts opined only last week that judges are not political, Judge Melissa DuBose is a glaring counterexample. What followed was an incredible case of judicial misconduct involving a nakedly political public affairs campaign and efforts to intimidate federal employees so they would stop criticizing a co-equal branch of government.
Judge DuBose is apparently upset because, before she ordered this alleged murderer to be released, she was not informed that he was wanted for murder. But this situation is entirely of Judge DuBose’s own making. The legal issue in this case is whether Mr. Gomez is entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge or subject to mandatory detention. While DHS disputes that he is entitled to a bond hearing, the court disagreed.
But instead of ordering the government to give him that bond hearing, the court ordered him released immediately. The court had no authority to release this criminal illegal alien. That decision belonged to an immigration judge.
In other words, the judge’s reckless disregard for the law caused the problem. The fact that the court lacked the necessary information to review Mr. Gomez’s custody status is the court’s fault and only the court’s fault. Information about whether Mr. Gomez is a public safety risk is information that ICE should present to an immigration judge — not to a federal court analyzing the narrow legal question of whether Mr. Gomez gets to see an immigration judge in the first place. And because the court lacked any plausible basis to review Mr. Gomez’s custody status, it was entirely unreasonable to expect ICE to be prepared to present that information to the court.
Rather than allow this legitimate criticism, the judge has engaged in a political public affairs battle and intimidation campaign against DHS. The first thing the court did was engage a spokesman who gave a statement on behalf of the court calling DHS’s statements “misleading and demonstrably false.” I certainly do not think it is appropriate for courts to use spokesmen to push back on criticisms of their rulings, and I do not imagine the founders did either.
What the court did second was even worse. The court called a government attorney into court and began threatening to hold the government in contempt unless DHS agrees to suppress our legitimate criticisms of the court’s ruling. And since DHS has refused to stop (as reflected by the publication of this article), the court has now appointed a special counsel to investigate us.
What exactly is the special counsel investigating? Apparently, it is the fact that a co-equal branch of government dares to publicly criticize Judge DuBose.
Given the radical activists President Biden installed across the country, this case of judicial misconduct is neither surprising nor uncommon. Unfortunately, DHS faces this kind of behavior almost every day. What is surprising is that more people are not mortified by the conduct of judges like Judge DuBose. Judge DuBose’s conduct is something we expect to see from UCLA students; we don’t expect to see it from a federal judge. I hope more people in positions of influence will take seriously the epidemic of judicial misconduct in this country.
