If Republicans Won’t End the Monarchical Judiciary, They Must Expose It

Congressional leaders failed to impeach a judge or cut funding to an out-of-control judicial branch. The least they can do now is let the public experience the madness in real time.

American towns, big and small, are once again besieged by “No Kings” rallies this weekend. With days to go before the midterm election, Trump haters are out in full force to rile up the Democratic Party base by falsely claiming (for the umpteenth time) that the only way to halt King Trump is to boot Republican leadership out of the halls of Congress.

But as recent disclosures—and my reporting over the past several years—demonstrate is the real unchecked authoritarian power in Washington resides not at the White House or the U.S. Capitol but inside the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse located on, ironically, Constitution Avenue. While the media demands unfettered access to the president, federal judges enjoy almost complete insularity from similar scrutiny; working outside the public eye, judges—armed with lifetime appointments and a collective sense of superiority over the political branches of government—have established an imperial judiciary that continues to shred the separation of power boundaries and, in some instances, create mad tyrants raging from the bench in a manner akin to the behavior of a diseased monarch from the Middle Ages.

Judges coast to coast treat the president, his cabinet members, and Department of Justice officials like subjects rather than representatives of a co-equal branch of government. Prosecutors routinely face threats of contempt of court even over minor paperwork snafus; those threats come with potential fines and even jail time.

An Arizona judge this month sanctioned a DOJ attorney for his alleged “bad faith” and “frivolous” accusations against an immigration attorney representing a deportee. Judge Diane Humetewa, an Obama appointee, ordered the DOJ attorney to attend “one hour each of continuing legal education on…the special role of United States Attorneys and…the need for evidentiary support for all factual contentions.”

LOL, can we please get this for all government lawyers?

The Shroud of Secrecy Does Not Include the Media

Judges are so emboldened by their untouchable status that some are going directly to sympathetic news organizations to air their grievances over the president’s policies. Attorney General Todd Blanche recently filed a misconduct complaint against seven Minnesota federal judges, including former chief judge Patrick Schiltz (my coverage here) for going on the record with a New York Times reporter last month to blast the White House’s deportation efforts. Blanche accused Schiltz and others of “flagrantly violat[ing] the Code of Judicial Conduct with their improper and unethical comments to the New York Times.”

Schiltz, who recently stepped down as chief judge but remains on senior status, and his colleagues should recuse themselves, according to Blanche, from pending immigration matters because the “public reasonably questions their impartiality in cases involving immigration.”

And lest we forget the revived effort at the D.C. appellate court to hold Trump officials, perhaps former DHS Secretary Kristy Noem, in contempt for violating Judge Jeb Boasberg’s “oral command” to return planes carrying suspected gang bangers here illegally from Venezuela back to the United States in March 2025.

The list of monarchical moments played out in federal courtrooms goes on and on. A recent incident, however, in the D.C. courthouse deserves, and is getting, special attention.

Judge Turned Golf Course Superintendent Loses It

Judge Ana Reyes, appointed to the D.C. District Court by Joe Biden in 2023, just suffered another emotional breakdown related to a presidential policy on which she disagrees. Her animus toward the administration is well-documented; last year, the DOJ filed a misconduct complaint against the Uruguayan-born jurist for interrogating a prosecutor over his religious beliefs and forcing him to sit down because he attended the University of Virginia law school, calling UVA grads “liars [who] lack integrity.”

Since February, Reyes has been handling a lawsuit brought by Trump lawfare perps Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen to halt the reconstruction of the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington; the president, working with renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio, pledged to turn the current sub-par 36-hole course into “one of the Greatest Golf Courses anywhere in the World.”

The plaintiffs claim that rebuilding the course, which sits on federal property, violates several statues and will “physically alter and degrade a recognized historic resource, fundamentally transform the character of the park, and significantly affect the human environment, in flagrant disregard of the statutory safeguards enacted by Congress.” Reyes gave standing in July to two men who (allegedly) regularly play East Potomac by concurring that the golfers will suffer “irreparable harm” if a new course takes its place.

As the litigation moved through the process—Reyes did not enter an injunction as administration officials pledged to keep her apprised of any developments—National Park Service (NPS) employees began cutting down hundreds of trees at the course over Columbus Day weekend. The Trump administration, which had notified Reyes of the work before it began, said the removals were part of a 2019 NPS plan to fix the aging course and not part of the proposed course renovations.

“[Successive] decades have led to the introduction of additional trees to the course, which have altered the feeling of the course, moving the character of the links-style courses closer to parkland-style courses,’ and that the ‘encroachment of vegetation has altered strategy and obscured intended views within the course,” according to the report. (A video posted by a golfer a few months ago shows the course’s overall poor condition.)

Facts notwithstanding, Reyes flew into (another) fit of rage at the thought of Trump officials doing anything without her consent. She held an emergency hearing on Oct. 12, which stretched over four hours. During that time, Reyes unleashed a public tirade that for any other individual would have resulted in an urgent call to authorities for her transport to the loony bin.

Another Day, Another Extrajudicial Mini Trial

Often questioning the intelligence and integrity of Trump officials with her voice raised, Reyes conducted a mini trial of sorts without any notice to the government. She ordered the immediate testimony of Frank Lands, deputy director of the National Park Service, on the Columbus Day holiday. “Did you get that, Counsel? You had better figure out how to get him on the phone…that is not a suggestion. That’s an order. I want him on this phone as soon as possible,” Reyes shouted in her best Jeb Boasberg impersonation.

Lands complied, calling in from his car to discuss the tree maintenance project, but Reyes was not satisfied. Not only did she enter an emergency order preventing park service employees from “fell[ing]” any more trees until the end of the month, she scheduled another hearing for Monday morning, demanding more testimony from Trump officials.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward entered an appearance in the case and quickly sought Reyes’ recusal. “Mr. Lands was forced to testify under oath, under the penalty of perjury, and without having any opportunity whatsoever to reasonably prepare or consult with counsel—all from his vehicle, on a federal holiday,” Woodward wrote in a motion to disqualify her. “This Court has now violated bedrock separation of powers principles by demanding that high-ranking Department of the Interior officials be subject to wide-ranging cross-examination without any showing of exceptional circumstances. Judge Reyes’s conduct rises to the level of deep-seated and unequivocal antipathy toward the Trump Administration.”

Woodward, who defended one of the alleged co-conspirators in the classified documents case and numerous J6ers, also asked Reyes to authorize the release of the hearing’s audio recording. (To her credit, Reyes has made hearings in this matter available on a public line but recording any proceeding at the district court level is against the law.)

Where is C-SPAN When You Need Them?

Publishing the audio file is the least Reyes should do; proceedings at the D.C. appellate court and the Supreme Court not only are accessible in real time but a catalog of oral arguments is available on both courts’ websites. C-SPAN routinely airs high-profile proceedings as well.

If Congressional Republicans are too afraid to either impeach rogue judges or drastically cut funding to a rogue federal court system, particularly in Washington, they should pass legislation to require live audio access to all proceedings. Further, recordings of every hearing should be available on each district court’s website; if it’s good enough for SCOTUS, it’s good enough for Judge Reyes and every other lower court judge.

The shroud of secrecy around the federal court system must end. Like everything that happens in the dark, this opaqueness continues to breed an unconstitutional organism no one, except the most ardent Trump hater, wants.