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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Happy News Open Thread: Congratulations to Judge Dale Ho

Happy News Open Thread: Congratulations to Judge Dale Ho

by | 33 Comments

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… Ho was confirmed 50 to 49 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Every Republican voted no. Every Democrat, including the two independents who caucus with them, voted to confirm him, except for one: Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is running for president, missed the vote.

Ho, 46, is considered one of the nation’s leading voting rights lawyers. He’s been the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s voting rights project since 2013 and was previously a staff attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He argued two cases against the Trump administration at the Supreme Court, one of which successfully challenged former President Donald Trump’s plan to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

Ho has also led a racial justice clinic at New York University’s School of Law since 2014…

President Joe Biden has put forward record numbers of diverse court picks since taking office, both in terms of demographics and professional backgrounds. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, has been confirming his nominees at warp speed…

Ho’s confirmation vote has been a long time coming. Biden nominated him in September 2021, and he had his Judiciary Committee hearing in December 2021. But since then, Ho’s nomination stalled amid stiff GOP opposition and Democratic absences in a Senate where Democrats hold the razor-thin majority of 51-49.

In a sign of just how tight his vote was, Ho was originally scheduled for a confirmation vote last week but it got derailed when a single Democratic senator, Patty Murray of Washington state, was out because of a sinus infection.

Republicans were trying to sink Ho’s nomination over tweets he’d previously sent that criticized Republican senators, and over his ACLU advocacy work. Manchin said Wednesday that he was opposing Ho over his tweets, which are now hidden becau Ho has set his account to private…

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) weirdly told Ho during his confirmation hearing that he planned to oppose him because he was too angry to be a judge.

“Mr. Ho, you’re a smart man. I can tell. But I think you’re an angry man,” Kennedy said at the time. “We don’t need federal judges who are angry. We need federal judges who are fair and can see both points of view.”

Kennedy elaborated that Ho seemed angry because of his tweets that criticized GOP senators. He didn’t say what the tweets said, but Ho said he regretted the tone he’d taken on Twitter at times in his role as a voting rights advocate.

The irony of Kennedy attacking Ho as “angry” wasn’t lost on Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who pointed out that Kennedy had previously voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who screamed and sneered at senators during his confirmation hearing…

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  5. 5.

    bbleh

    Biden was a Senator for a long time, and he’s shown he’s got serious political smarts.

    I hope he has a plan to kneecap Manchin with prejudice if/when it becomes necessary.

  6. 6.

    dr. bloor

    For all his considerable drawbacks in other areas, this is Schumer’s sweet spot.

  7. 7.

    Trivia Man

    We have proof that tenacity in judge selection has a huge payoff. Here’s to many more stellar judges yet to come.

    thanks very much for some happy news in these dark times.

  8. 8.

    Wapiti

    @bbleh: I expect the Democratic leadership looked at Scott’s absence and recognized they could give Manchin a pass to fly his bigot flag or whatever to keep his constituents happy.

    He might have some other reason, but being against voting rights normally translates as being for bigotry.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    Fabulous news! Voting rights is arguably the issue of our time. Everything else depends on it.

  10. 10.

    Almost Retired

    This is wonderful news.  The Ho family is amazing!  Dale’s brother Daniel is a professional acquaintance and Facebook friend.  Daniel is also an employment attorney here in Los Angeles and is funny and brilliant.  Good God I hate that fucking fake cornpone Kennedy.

  11. 11.

    bbleh

    @Wapiti: right, and if this is just protecting a cherry-red state Dem Senator then that’s one thing, but if this is him burnishing his “No Labels” credentials then it’s entirely something else.

  12. 12.

    Cameron

    @Wapiti: Not sure why Munchkin would give a tin-plated shit about voting rights one way or another. I don’t think the outraged minority vote in WV accounts for much.

  14. 14.

    Mathguy

    That shithead Kennedy never fails to provide a stupid quote for the rubes, does he?

  15. 15.

    Steve in the ATL

    Bad: had to travel to Battle Creek, Michigan.

    Good: wrapped up early, got a flight out tonight instead of tomorrow.

    Bad: flight delayed, so late hour arrival back at ATL.

    Good: upgraded to first class!

  17. 17.

    bbleh

    @Cameron: oh, it shows he’s not havin’ any part o’ this woke stuff, and he ain’t afraid to stand up to them California people tryin’a change ever’thing ‘stead o’ lettin’ folks be.

    His name is gold in WV, and usually if he plays Mannington country boy made good, he can survive politically.  Problem is, Justice, the current Gov who’s running for Senate, is seen as similarly solid, and he’s got the ‘R’

    But you’re right re outraged minority vote.  WV is the 3rd Whitest state in the country. Like 97% or something.

  19. 19.

    Citizen Alan

    @bbleh: It is possible I will die from an aneurysm caused by uncontrollable laughter if Justice loses the GOP primary to a Trump sponsored nutcase.

  20. 20.

    bbleh

    @Citizen Alan: oh definitely.  Mooney, the somewhat-more-MAGA-ish carpetbagger from the Maryland Panhandle who won the (redrawn) WV-2 seat, was talking about running, but I’d be surprised if he makes much of an effort.  And even if he did, I’d lay heavy odds on Justice.  In my experience, WV voters overall aren’t particularly enamored of The Krayzee, and they don’t take kindly to carpetbaggers neither.

  21. 21.

    smith

    @bbleh: “Carpetbagger” defined as someone whose family hasn’t lived in the state for at least 5 generations. I know this from personal experience, having been born and raised in WV, but somehow never was acknowledged to be a native.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    Good, good.

    Relatedly, …

    We're celebrating another civil rights champion confirmed to the federal bench this week: Nusrat Choudhury! A fierce advocate for equal rights for all, she understands the importance of the rule of law for our rights. t.co/20GiRTaTBM

    — National Women's Law Center (@nwlc) June 15, 2023

    She’s the first Muslim woman federal judge.

    First.

    In 2023.

    :-/

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    bbleh

    @Maxim: or the Iran embassy.  Or, hell, the establishment of OPEC.  Explicitly anti-Muslim sentiment has been around for as long or longer than the Christianist Right have been a force in the Republican Party (surely just a coincidence).

    Got two Muslim women in the House too!  Progress, hell yeah!

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott:

    She’s the first Muslim woman federal judge.

    I’m sure the Rs will expect her to recuse herself every time anyone Muslim is involved with a case.

    You know, just like they do with all the white judges for all the white people.  um, never mind.

  33. 33.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Manchin is a racist fuck. I give the fucker a pass on a lot of stuff but he really seems anti-Asian and not doing it just to get votes from his redneck voters.

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