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IPFS News Link • Presidential Pardons

"A Criminal Like Trump": Federal Judge Exposes Bias In Public Interview

• https://www.zerohedge.com, by Jonathan Turley

I was one of those who immediately criticized those pardons as manifestly unjustified and inimical to our legal system. However, none of that makes the comments of senior U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa any less troubling. Judge Pratt gave an interview slamming the pardons in a departure from judicial ethics rules barring jurists from engaging in such political commentary.

I have previously criticized Judge Emmet Sullivan for using his courtroom to air grievances against President Trump. Pratt however dispensed with any pretense of judicial function in airing his grievances over the pardons. He told the Associated Press that:

"It's not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals. But apparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey."

Pratt was discussing pardons that included former Ron Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton and campaign manager John Tate, who were convicted at trial of concealing $73,000 in payments that went to a state senator.  Again, my concern with the comments is not the merits but the messenger.

Pratt was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and remains an active judge on a reduced docket as a senior status judge. 

As such, he remains subject to the Code of Judicial Ethics.  

State judges have been sanctioned for yielding to such temptations to vent their opposition or criticism to Trump.  Federal judges however have engaged in such public commentary without sanctions.


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