‘Blood, feces and terror’ judges are raging over Trump pardons

The court system plays a key role in either tamping down or fueling rage in society. The book details how rage rhetoric often became state rage during periods of crackdowns on free speech. Over the last two centuries, some judges used their courtrooms to lash out at political opponents, anarchists, unionists or communists. 

I was particularly concerned in these cases with sentences that seemed visceral, even gratuitous, in denying free speech rights. In Washington, judges imposed limits on what political views defendants could read or share.

For example, Judge Reggie B. Walton, a Bush appointee who had previously called Trump a charlatan, had before him a typical Jan. 6 case that of Daniel Goodwyn, 35, of Corinth, Texas. Goodwyn pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2023, to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building. It is a minor offense that generated little jail time.

However, Walton faulted Goodwyn for appearing on Fox News and spreading disinformation, and so he ordered the government to monitor what he was viewing and discussing. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rebuked Walton for that surveillance order, but he doubled down. On remand, the Biden Justice Department insisted that Goodwyn was unrepentant and still viewing extremist media.

Walton, therefore, determined that the risk was too great in Goodwyn spreading false narratives when we are on the heels of another election.

Now, his colleague is similarly ordering that those freed under Trump s commutations will disclose and seek approval to go to the Capitol to speak with members or other citizens.

via thehill.com

Jonathan Turley.

Read the whole brief thing.