Charges of ethics improprieties against Obama judge now escalated
Reports have confirmed that John McConnell Jr., a federal judge in Rhode Island, long has been a financial supporter of Democrats, contributing some $60,000 to the party’s candidates.
He was nominated to the bench by Democrat Barack Obama.
He’s a former treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic Committee and chaired the campaign of Providence Mayor David Cicilline.
But what’s gotten attention now is that he’s also documented as being part of an organization that was funded, at least partly, by grants from the federal government.
Then at the same time he, instead of recusing himself from the case over government grants and funding, sided with a team of Democrat state attorneys general who oppose President Donald Trump’s agenda to freeze and cut federal funds being handed out through grants to nongovernmental groups.
A report at Fox News explains that U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., are asking the judicial council for the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to investigate McConnell over that issue.
Their charge is that the judge has a financial conflict of interest in the outcome of the issue.
McConnell has been making decisions in “a pivotal funding freeze case in Rhode Island brought by 22 states with Democratic attorneys general. The case centers on the Office of Management and Budget’s order in January that federal agencies implement a multibillion-dollar suspension of federal benefits.”
States say they get the money no matter what because Congress approved it, and McConnell agreed, blocking Trump from suspending those payments.
The fight now has gone over McConnell’s head, to the 1st Circuit.
But in his ruling, he had claimed the Trump suspension “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.” He claimed the freeze wasn’t rational and showed no “thoughtful consideration” for the consequences.
Issa and Jordan pointed out that McConnell long has been a leader with Crossroads Rhode Island, an organization that has gotten “millions of dollars in federal and state grants.”
“Given Crossroads’s reliance on federal funds, Judge McConnell’s rulings had the effect of restoring funding to Crossroads, directly benefitting the organization and creating a conflict of interest,” Jordan and Issa wrote.
An earlier complaint over McConnell’s ties to Crossroads, and his decision affecting that group’s funding, was filed by America First legal.
And Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., already has filed articles of impeachment against the judge.