A prominent liberal group has launched a new attack on President Trump’s nominee to a federal appeals court.
The Alliance for Justice believes 6th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee John K. Bush’s posts on the blog “Elephants in the Bluegrass,” written under a pseudonym, should “disqualify” him from a lifetime appointment to the federal bench with jurisdiction over Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Bush acknowledged that he wrote posts for the blog under the byline “G. Morris” in paperwork submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bush did not respond to request for comment.
“Bush’s writings raise serious concerns about whether, as a judge, he will be able to approach the issues presented to him with an open mind, applying the law to the facts of the case without regard to his personal ideology,” the Alliance for Justice wrote in a post published Monday. “Bush’s distasteful rhetoric demonstrates that he lacks the judicial temperament necessary to serve as a federal judge.”
In particular, the liberal legal group took issue with Bush conflating the goals of the civil rights movement and the pro-life movement and his analysis of presidential politics.
“The two greatest tragedies in our country — slavery and abortion — relied on similar reasoning and activist justices at the U.S. Supreme Court, first in the Dred Scott decision, and later in Roe,” G. Morris wrote in a 2008 post that Alliance for Justice found objectionable.
The Alliance for Justice also took issue with Bush’s posts about the 2016 GOP convention in Cleveland. In summarizing failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s strategy, G. Morris wrote in a 2016 post that, “The Democrats are trying to win with the same game plan as in 2008, only substitute woman for black.”
The liberal group also expressed concern about a seemingly tongue-in-cheek quip directed at anti-Trump protesters outside the convention that the group deemed dismissive of the protesters.
“There were more than a hundred bare naked ladies protesting something earlier today,” “G. Morris” said in the same post from 2016. “You know Trump is onto something huge when he causes people to shed their underwear. Not even Ron Paul could pull that off.”
Bush’s post is a reference to the nude liberal women that gathered just before the GOP convention in opposition to Trump.
Bush’s posts under the pseudonym “G. Morris” are likely to provide ammunition for Senate Democrats seeking to thwart Trump nominees to the lower courts. Democrats are also likely to focus attacks on Bush’s connection to the Federalist Society, a right-leaning legal group. Bush is president of the Federalist Society’s Louisville, Ky., chapter, according to his profile on the website of Bingham Greenebaum Doll where Bush is a partner. Senate Democrats have previously attacked Trump’s judicial nominees for their connections to the group, and Bush likely will be no different.
But Bush has defenders across the political spectrum. Theodore J. Boutrous, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, said he has known Bush for more than 25 years and worked closely with him at the same law firm in the 1990s. Boutrous called the Alliance for Justice’s position “absurd” in an email to the Washington Examiner and praised Bush.
“While we come from different political parties, I am certain he will make an absolutely superb circuit judge,” Boutrous said in an email. “He is an extraordinary lawyer and an exceptionally fair, decent and honest person. I have every confidence that as a judge John will scrupulously follow the law and Constitution and precedent.”
Other pending judicial nominees should prepare for similar scrutiny from the Alliance for Justice. The group is still reviewing the president’s other judicial nominees, but communications manager Meg Simons said in an email that “our initial review indicates we will have serious reservations regarding many of the president’s nominees.”
