GOP politican grills AAPI judicial nominee: Beware the "angry" Asian American

Dale Ho has been nominated for a federal judgeship in New York.

OPINION

A Republican U.S. senator thinks an Asian American nominee for a federal judgeship is too "angry" to be a fair judge.

During questioning of highly regarded civil rights attorney Dale Ho for his nomination to the bench, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told Ho:

“Mr. Ho, you’re a smart man. I can tell. But I think you’re an angry man,” Kennedy said during Ho’s Wednesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We don’t need federal judges who are angry. We need federal judges who are fair and can see both points of view.”

Conservatives have targeted Ho, nominated by President Biden for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for his past tweets and his work as an ACLU attorney and as an advocate for voting rights. During the confirmation hearings last week by the Senate Judicial Committee, Ho had to undergo a gauntlet of questioning by Republican members of the committee.

Ho, 44, calmly answered Kennedy's attempts to catch the ACLU attorney in a contradiction.  Ho said he regretted the tone of some of his tweets that he sent as director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project during the Trump's reign. He argued two cases against the Trump administration at the Supreme Court, one of which successfully challenged Trump’s plan to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

The aggressive questioning continued but Ho parried the attacks by pointing out the inaccuracy of the senator's alleged quotes.

“You’ve described yourself as a, quote, wild-eyed sort of leftist,” said Kennedy. “Do I have that right?”

“Senator, I think I was referring to a caricature of the way that I think other people may have described me, not how I would describe myself,” Ho said. “I want to assure you that I understand that the role of a judge is to set aside whatever personal views ―.”

“Right,” interrupted Kennedy. “I heard your testimony. ... Did you say, quote, Republicanism is an anti-democratic virus?”

“No senator, I don’t believe I’ve used those words,” replied Ho.

“You’re under oath now,” said Kennedy.

“Yes, Senator, I don’t believe I’ve used those words,” Ho continued. “I do remember saying last year that there was a loss of confidence in our elections that has spread kind of like a virus.”

The back-and-forth  between the Louisiana senator using his southern drawl to appear folksy and the calmness exhibited by Ho until  Kennedy used up his question time.

The grilling by Republican senators on the Senate Justice Committee was countered by the Democrats on the panel who pointed out that past Republican nominees have had their own srong views and questionable "temperament." 

“When we talk about judicial temperament … with regard to now-Justice (Brett) Kavanaugh, there were over 1,000 law professors and deans of law schools who wrote to this committee saying that he did not have the judicial temperament to be on the Supreme Court, and yet, there he sits,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

In response to the Republican attacks against Ho, a progressive group Demand Justice on Monday launched an ad campaign in support of Biden's nominee. The ad will run on television in Washington, D.C., and will be featured on online social media platforms.

"This ad campaign is an investment in making sure that Americans who care about protecting voting rights know President Biden and Leader Schumer have given Senate Democrats the opportunity to confirm a champion for democracy to the federal bench,” Demand Justice chief counsel Christopher Kang said in a statement.

Prior to the confirmation hearings, Ho's supporters, judges, lawyers, Democrats and Republicans,  issued statements on his behalf in an attempt to stave off the expected partisan attacks. “Mr. Ho is eminently qualified and would make tremendous contributions to the administration of justice in the federal courts, as well as to the communities served by our judicial system,” said  Priya Purandare, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Advice to future wannabe judges: Don't post mean tweets against members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter, @DioknoEd.