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DC Judges Face Scrutiny Over Trump Cases

August 6, 2019

Backview of a young judge

Public awareness of the politicization of the courts has generally focused on the U.S. Supreme Court, but two district judges in D.C. recently appointed by Trump — Trevor McFadden, and Carl Nichols — have found themselves and their rulings under a magnifying glass. McFadden and Nichols are considering a lawsuit over a New York law that allows Congress to obtain the president’s state tax returns. McFadden was initially assigned to the lawsuit because he was also assigned to a lawsuit over the president’s federal tax returns, but he disagreed with Trump’s personal lawyers who sought to have him also oversee the new case and ordered that the state tax return case be randomly reassigned to a new judge. In his order he highlighted rules about when cases can be considered related to avoid the appearance of judge shopping and to ensure to the public that judges are assigned to cases in an impartial manner. Nichols, who was just confirmed is now taking on the New York tax returns case in what appears to be his first-ever assignment. After initially hearing arguments in the case, he asked the parties to try to reach an agreement themselves. When they failed, he issued an order that temporarily stops New York from handing over the returns to the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee, after indicating to the parties that is how he would rule. The panel has not yet requested the returns.

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