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Meet the judge jumping and waving his hands to get Trump's attention [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-05-21
U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho might be the worst judge not currently on the Supreme Court, but he definitely wants to be the worst justice on the Supreme Court one day. His latest sizzle reel—er, judicial opinion—makes for an excellent audition for the only audience member who matters: President Donald Trump.
Ho is spittle-flecked levels of furious that the Supreme Court will not let the administration deport a group of Venezuelans with no due process. The holding reversed the ruling of the three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decision had claimed the court had no jurisdiction to hear the plaintiffs’ emergency appeal and had haughtily complained that the plaintiffs had given the district court “only 42 minutes to act.”
About that part. … The Supreme Court took specific, pointed, deliberate aim at that statement because it is a lie. The Supreme Court noted that the lower court refused to act on the plaintiffs’ emergency request that the government be enjoined from deporting them for 14 hours and 28 minutes, which is a little longer than 42 minutes.
One would think that Ho, having been a part of that lying 5th Circuit panel, might feel chastened after the Supreme Court called him out. But if you think that, you don’t know James Ho.
When the Supreme Court sent the case back down to the 5th Circuit, it triggered the issuance of what is usually a pretty pro forma order, just saying that the case had been sent back down and what would happen next. We got that order, but then Ho tacked on a positively unhinged concurrence.
The Supreme Court, shown in November 2020.
Rather than acknowledging that 42 minutes is not 14 hours, Ho just stuck with the whine that the lower court received only 42 minutes of grace from the big mean group of plaintiffs who were in a tizzy because they didn’t want to be illegally sent to a violent prison in El Salvador. How dare they.
Per Ho, his district court is not a Denny’s restaurant. No, he really said that.
“We seem to have forgotten that this is a district court—not a Denny’s,” he said. “This is the first time I've ever heard anyone suggest that district judges have a duty to check their dockets at all hours of the night, just in case a party decides to file a motion.”
“If this is going to become the norm, then we should say so: District judges are hereby expected to be available 24 hours a day—and the Judicial Conference of the United States and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts should secure from Congress the resources and staffing necessary to ensure 24-hour operations in every district court across the country,” he added.
Well, yes, it is the norm. There’s literally a federal statute that says, “All courts of the United States shall be deemed always open for the purpose of filing proper papers, issuing and returning process, and making motions and orders.”
Ho also ignores the fact that the whole reason the plaintiffs needed to seek on-the-fly emergency relief rather than allowing for a slow give-and-take with the Trump administration is because that administration keeps defying court orders and deporting people anyway.
Of course, Ho does not care about that, but his heart bleeds for the president, whom the judge thinks is being treated shabbily by the courts. Yes, Ho is worried that the “disrespect” courts are showing the president “will not inspire continued respect for the judiciary, without which we cannot long function.” Ho would also like everyone to know that he does not see it as the court’s job to “check the excesses of the other branches.”
Then-President Barack Obama Sonia Sotomayor, right, as his nominee for the Supreme Court in May 2009.
Newsflash for James Ho: That literally is the court’s job. It’s that whole checks-and-balances thing the rest of us learned in third grade.
Making sure to tailor his remarks to best suck up to Trump, Ho complained that other presidents have been afforded far more respect despite being bad people. President Barack Obama? Bad because he, in Ho’s words, “tried to shame” members of the Supreme Court by remarking on the Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which allowed corporations to dump unlimited money into elections. President Bill Clinton? Bad because he was disbarred.
It is in no way clear how these examples support the idea that things aren’t fair to Trump, but Ho isn’t going for logic here. He’s going for attention.
This isn’t the first time Ho has made an ostentatious move to try to win Trump’s favor. A few months ago, he very publicly reversed his own stance on birthright citizenship to align with Trump’s wildly unconstitutional view that it doesn’t exist.
Ho’s gotta work hard to be the most standout choice for Trump’s next Supreme Court pick. He’s got to shine brighter than Judge Aileen Cannon, who had the pleasure and privilege of freeing Trump from criminal charges for his habit of retaining classified documents and storing them in his gaudy bathroom. Cannon was also on the short list for attorney general, so Ho has to step up his game. Expect more audition tapes soon.
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