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GOP Rep. files articles of impeachment against SDNY judge

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 23:19:04 +0000

Inset: U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer (U.S. Courts/YouTube). Background: Republican Candidate for President Donald Trump attends the Building America’s Future, Southeastern Pennsylvania Roundtable at the Drexelbrook Event Center on October 29, 2024, in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania (Matt Bishop/imageSPACE/Sipa USA via AP Images).

A Republican member of the House on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against a federal judge who recently barred DOGE staffers from accessing sensitive Treasury Department data.

Early on the morning of Feb. 8, Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a temporary restraining order blocking such access and requiring all the relevant Elon Musk-aligned employees to “destroy” any copies of documents that were previously downloaded.

Reaction online was swift and fierce – with numerous allies of President Donald Trump calling for Engelmayer’s impeachment.

Now, those calls have been answered.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican from Wisconsin, filed House Resolution 143, which accuses the judge of “high crimes and misdemeanors” over the temporary restraining order. The bill was subsequently referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

“Paul Engelmayer, as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, engaged in judicial misconduct when he halted President Donald J. Trump’s Executive order establishing and implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency on purely political grounds, demonstrating clear bias and prejudice against the President and the 74,000,000 Americans who voted for him,’ the first article of the resolution reads.

Under a heading alleging “judicial misconduct and abuse of judicial authority,” the first article of impeachment takes direct stock of Engelmayer’s ruling and alleges that the temporary restraining order” demonstrates clear bias and prejudice against the President” and “willfully” disregards “established legal precedent.”

Van Orden also criticizes the judge for the speed with which the temporary restraining order was granted.

The resolution alleges Engelmayer acted “outside the bounds of judicial decency” by “submitting this injunction in the middle of the night” and says the timing “may have been done with the intent to influence the outcome of cases to favor certain parties.”

Temporal concerns, of course, did play a part in issuing the pre-injunction pause – but the judge did not mention the predawn nature of the ruling. The temporary restraining order was issued in response to a request for emergency relief from a 19-state coalition led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“The Court’s firm assessment is that, for the reasons stated by the States, they will face irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief,” the temporary restraining order reads. “That is both because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.”

The second article of impeachment is quite a bit shorter, premised on the “abuse of judicial power,” and reads, in full:

Judge Paul Engelmayer has abused his judicial office by using his authority to further personal or political interests, contrary to the constitutional responsibility to apply the law impartially, including the improper handling of this case in a manner that demonstrates favoritism or undue influence, undermining the fundamental principles of justice.

The impeachment effort jumps the gun – in this case, a Sig Sauer P226 – on similar such articles promised last week by Rep. Eli Crane, an Arizona Republican. In a Wednesday afternoon post on X (formerly Twitter), Crane said he would file his resolution by Friday. Both Van Orden and Crane previously served as U.S. Navy SEALs.

The Trump administration, for their part, quickly implored the court to reconsider the restraining order – arguing that it appears to cover Senate-approved Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The next day, U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas – to whom the case was actually assigned – clarified the scope of the restraining order to make clear that it did not apply to “any Officer of the United States Department of the Treasury nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate.”

As of this writing, the impeachment bill has no cosponsors.

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State rep displays middle finger during online court hearing, leading to show-cause orders

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:32:56 +0000

Trials & Litigation

State rep displays middle finger during online court hearing, leading to show-cause orders

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 5, 2024, 3:20 pm CDT

Florida State Rep. Randy Fine, who appeared to be displaying his middle finger and making other gestures during an online court appearance, is facing an Oct. 1 contempt hearing. (Screenshots via Judge Scott Blaue’s show-cause order)

A Florida state representative who appeared to be displaying his middle finger and making other gestures during an online court appearance is facing an Oct. 1 contempt hearing.

Florida State Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican, was ordered to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for alleged “offensive conduct” during the Aug. 19 hearing, report Florida Today and WESH.

Judge Scott Blaue of Brevard County, Florida, issued the show-cause order Tuesday while issuing a second order to Fine’s lawyer, Ryan Christopher Rodems.

Blaue ordered Rodems to show cause why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for failing to advise or admonish his client against such conduct.

Blaue’s show-cause orders include screenshots of Fine touching his face with his middle finger extended and making an “L” with his hand, which according to WESH, is a gesture interpreted to mean “loser.” The orders also include an email sent to Blaue’s judicial assistant by Fine’s political opponent, Chuck Sheridan.

“I am watching the hearing,” Sheridan wrote, and Fine is making concerning hand gestures, as well as “mouthing vulgar words,” such as “F- – – you a- -hole.”

Blaue also attached screenshots of a meeting chat in which viewers asked someone to please tell Fine to “stop the obscene gestures.”

Blaue’s orders cite prior Florida cases defining contempt as “an act tending to embarrass, hinder or obstruct the court in the administration of justice or to lessen the court’s authority or dignity.”

The Aug. 19 court appearance had been scheduled on Microsoft Teams, according to an Aug. 15 order by Blaue attached to the show-cause orders.

“The court requires video appearance and proper court attire,” the Aug. 15 order said.

The show-cause orders also direct Fine and Rodems to explain why they failed to comply with terms of the Aug. 15 order.

Fine was wearing a T-shirt for his state Senate campaign during the hearing. He won the primary race for that position in the election that happened the next day, according to Florida Today.

The hearing happened in a case filed by political consultant Robert Burns against Brevard County’s supervisor of elections in an attempt to remove Fine and other candidates from the ballot for some races. Blaue tossed the case late last month.

According to Florida Today, Burns and Fine “have a long-running public feud going back to 2020, when Burns represented Fine’s opponent in a particularly vicious primary race.”

Rodems did not immediately respond to the ABA Journal’s email request for comment.

Fine told WESH that he was told that the hearing would not be recorded. He also questioned why the judge took so long to raise the issue.

“If I was doing things he didn’t like, why did he wait two weeks to do anything about it?” Fine told the broadcast station.

He acknowledged wearing a campaign shirt but said “that’s what happens when you’re having a hearing at 3:45 p.m. the day before an election.”

Fine denied making obscene gestures in a lengthy statement to Florida Today.

In the statement, Fine referenced a motion in which Blaue published Fine’s home address before Fine received death threats.

“Judge Blaue’s behavior in this case has been nothing short of appalling. But he is right about one thing—I have contempt for his court,” Fine said in the comments published by Florida Today.

Fine alleged that the show-cause order was retaliation for a judicial ethics that complaint he filed against Blaue.

“From inserting himself into the case despite it being assigned to another judge, to giving Robert Burns clearly improper legal advice naming me as a party, from irresponsibly publishing my personal address which may have directly led to a death threat, to breaking the law by ordering my taxpayer-funded office be used for political matters, … Blaue clearly has no idea what he is doing. Or he does—and is supporting Trump-style lawfare in our community,” Fine said in the statement.

“Now, Blaue wants to have a hearing based on alleged behavior two weeks ago—using photographs Blaue himself said must not exist (due to courtroom restrictions on recording), and that if it actually happened and Blaue was paying attention, he would have seen and handled in real time,” Fine wrote. “He doesn’t seem to realize that the entire premise of the hearing is that he doesn’t know what is happening in front of his face in his own courtroom.”

Hat tip to the Florida Bar’s Daily News Summary.

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Man threatened Rep. Eric Swalwell: Department of Justice

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 20:45:30 +0000

FILE – Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., speaks during the House Intelligence Committee, Nov. 15, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Michael Shapiro, of South Florida, threatened to kill Swalwell and his children in a series of voice mails left at the California Democrat’s Washington office last month, federal prosecutors said. Shapiro was arrested Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

A man is accused of threatening a U.S. congressperson and the politician’s children. The U.S. Department of Justice did not identify the target in either court documents or a press release, but Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA, 14th District) said it is him.

“No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents,” he wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you.”

No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents. MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you. https://t.co/A4GcATb5GR

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 4, 2024

The defendant, Florida man Michael Shapiro, 72, allegedly left five voicemail message for Swalwell at the congressman’s Washington D.C. office on Dec. 19, 2023.

From prosecutors in their press release:

In one of the messages, Shapiro stated that he was going to “come after you and kill you …” In another message, he stated that he was going to “come and kill your children …” Shapiro allegedly placed the threatening calls from his home in Greenacres.

“You mother-[expletive], I’m gonna come after you and kill you [N-word],” Shapiro said, according to a complaint viewed by Law&Crime.

His repeated uttering of the name “Fang” is in apparent reference to Christine Fang, also reportedly known as “Fang Fang.” She was accused of being a spy for the Chinese government, cozying up to American politicians like Swalwell.

The House ethics committee took no action against the congressman for his link to Fang, who he called a “campaign volunteer.” A House Republican filed the underlying complaint against him, according to Axios. Swalwell called the complaint a smear.

In their press release, the DOJ said Shapiro previously pleaded guilty in federal court to making interstate threats. The timing does not quite sync up, but records show that a man under the name off Michael Shapiro — who had the same Greenacres, Florida, address as the defendant in the Swalwell threats — pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2020, to transmitting threats through interstate and foreign communications. He received three years of probation.

Documents in that case indicate Shapiro made threats to two congresspeople and an adult son of one of the politicians.

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