Time to Impeach D.C. Judge Beryl Howell?

Well, good for Rudy Giuliani.

In an interview with Newsmax’s Greg Kelly (and full disclosure, I am a Newsmax contributor), the former New York mayor said this after he was ordered to pay $148 million to election workers: “How can you not be so sad for the country?”

Giuliani continued, saying:

Here I am in the District of Columbia: The first time I came here I got goose bumps; I’m going to leave here thinking that this District of Columbia court is a fascist court…. I knew when she was assigned to the case, I knew we were dead…. I didn’t realize we were that dead.

…

Do you realize that I never got a chance to put in a single bit of evidence in defense? My liability was based on the fact that I didn’t completely comply with discovery, and I turned over thousands of documents, and I sat for a deposition and did not take the Fifth Amendment.

Newsmax reported:

Judge Howell had an ethics complaint filed against her by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., for a “highly inappropriate political speech” in November.

Giuliani said of this:

I didn’t know she had given this speech in which he talked about the Jan. 6 defendants, and really about Donald Trump, his big lies…. And she’s also the one who got very upset when the Jan. 6 defendants weren’t getting enough sentences as far as she was concerned, and she abraded the prosecutors and said the sentences should be heavier. That is not a role for a judge.

Well, bravo for Rudy.

It is nothing short of astonishing to witness the unraveling of the American judicial system for no other reason than an irrational hatred of former President Donald Trump. The judge Giuliani is referring to in this case is Obama-appointed Judge Beryl Howell.

Stefanik, a decided rising star in the House GOP, did the research. And she uncovered this, as she reported on X, with the publication of her complaint. The complaint reads, in part, as follows, with bold print for emphasis supplied:

Judicial Council of the District of Columbia Circuit

c/o Office of the Circuit Executive

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse

333 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20001

Re: Complaint of Judicial Misconduct Against Judge Beryl Howell

Dear Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan:

I write today to express my serious concerns about, and request an ethics investigation of, DC U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell for her highly inappropriate political speech she gave last month, at which she suggested reelecting President Trump will lead to fascism in America. As outlined in detail below, Judge Howell’s partisan speech is obviously highly inappropriate election interference by a federal judge that undermines the public’s trust in our courts. Moreover, the public display of the cozy personal relationships between Judge Howell and her partisan friends who appear before her undermines public trust in judicial independence, in violation of Canon 2B.[1].

….

On November 27, 2023, Judge Howell and current Biden Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the Biden Justice Department official who ultimately supervises federal prosecutors across America including their January 6 cases, together received the “champion award” at the Women’s White Collar Defense Association awards gala in Washington, D.C. Former Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the master of ceremonies, and former Obama White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler, introduced both Judge Howell and Monaco.

…

And Judge Howell’s 16 minutes of substantive remarks had little to do with women representing white-collar criminal defendants–and they were hardly apolitical, let alone politically neutral.[10] According to Politico, “[a]s the federal court in Washington that Judge Beryl Howell once oversaw prepares for a historic trial of former President Donald Trump on charges of attempting to fraudulently overturn the results of the 2020 election,” Judge Howell “used a rare public speech Tuesday to lament that many of those convicted for their actions on Jan. 6 fell under the sway of falsehoods.”[11]

And the purpose of Judge Howell’s speech was not lost on anyone, including Politico: “The judge who spearheaded the judiciary’s response to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, blamed that event on ‘big lies’ and warned that the country is in danger of turning toward authoritarianism.”[12]

…

Judge Howell’s fuller quote is this:

“This historian Heather Cox Richardson, whose book I’ve been reading . . . cautions in her book’s opening line . . . “America is at a crossroads teetering on the brink of authoritarianism” and she echoes this thought in her closing line, that we are at a time of testing and how it comes out . . . is in our own hands.” 

…

If one reads the book, they would know it is an anti-Trump, anti-Republican Party screed. Throughout the book, Richardson attacks Republicans for “flooding the media system with propaganda,” attacks President Trump’s judicial nominees as “extremist,” accuses President Trump of trying to “rig” the election, and says that President Trump pushed “an authoritarian agenda.”[15]

Judge Howell’s speech is plainly inappropriate, consisting of partisan statements, election interference, and improper extrajudicial statements while criminal cases are pending–all barred by Canon 2B. Judge Howell promoted the Democrat political campaign theme that the re-election of Donald Trump equates to America choosing authoritarianism. This is conduct unbecoming of a federal judge.”

Long story short, this is not only “conduct unbecoming of a federal judge.” This is, just as former Mayor Giuliani has charged, out and out fascism. In this case, with Rudy Giuliani the target.

The question now is: what to do about all of this?

The answer, it would seem, is impeaching Judge Howell. History reveals that 15 federal judges have been impeached over the decades. One, Judge George Washington English, a Woodrow Wilson appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois, was targeted for impeachment for “abuse of power.” Before the impeachment was finalized, the judge resigned.

Make no mistake, what Judge Howell is about is silencing “America’s mayor” in a decidedly authoritarian fashion because she disagrees with his politics and those of former President Trump.

Which is to say, Rudy Giuliani is exactly correct when he says he has been “thinking that this District of Columbia court is a fascist court.”

It is.

And it is time that the House of Representatives starts investigating that Court — starting with Judge Beryl Howell.

READ MORE:

Pelosi Gets Biden an Impeachment Inquiry

The Left’s Systemic Anti-Semitism: It Isn’t Just the UPenn President

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