The judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade who ruled that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are illegal have a history of Democrat Party activism.
Each of the members of the three-judge panel issuing the Wednesday ruling – which was stayed Thursday by an appeals court, allowing the tariffs to continue – fit the profile of other activists judges who continued their political activism after joining the court.
Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif, and Jane Restani have histories of supporting Democrat candidates that span as far back as 45 years ago and have thwarted Trump’s authority in both of his administrations, earning allegations of judicial activism.
Trump teed off on the judges Thursday night on Truth Social. “Where do these initial three Judges come from?” he asked. “How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of “TRUMP?” What other reason could it be?”
Katzmann, nominated by Barack Obama in 2015, attended Columbia, Oxford, and Yale Law School and later clerked for Stephen Breyer (while Breyer was on the First Circuit Court of Appeals). He was a researcher at the Center for Criminal Justice at Harvard Law School as well as a lecturer at Harvard Law School.
Although Katzmann is a registered unaffiliated voter in Massachusetts, he voted in the 2018, 2016, and 2014 Democrat primaries.
Hellbound and Down 