It looks like the tables may be turning on an Obama-appointed federal judge who sanctioned two of President Trump's attorneys over a lawsuit that had already been dismissed.
The judge in question is U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida and those turning the tables are two powerful House Republicans – Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (OH-04) and Rep. Darrell Issa (CA-48), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts.
Jordan and Issa are accusing Williams of abusing her authority in Trump's now-dismissed lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Serivce (IRS), writing in a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States, “There is evidence that Judge Williams abused her judicial authority and violated fundamental tenets of judicial impartiality."
MISCONDUCT: House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is demanding a formal investigation into Obama-appointed Judge Kathleen Williams after she sanctioned Trump's lawyers in his $10 billion IRS lawsuit — weeks after the case had already been voluntarily dismissed. Jordan and Rep. Darrell Issa wrote to the Judicial Conference that Williams "abused her judicial authority and violated fundamental tenets of judicial impartiality" by imposing sanctions based on an amicus brief from a left-wing activist group, Democracy Defenders Action, that urged her to reopen a case the parties themselves had already ended. The committee says there is no Eleventh Circuit precedent for a judge invoking inherent sanctions authority after a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses a case — especially based on briefing by outside partisan groups on a question the court never decided. Full story here https://t.co/lGJ0rLtA47
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The president, along with his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump Organization, sued the IRS for $10 billion earlier this year after former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn leaked the president's tax returns. Littlejohn was later sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Trump voluntarily dismissed the IRS lawsuit in May after he reached a settlement with the government. That agreement eventually devolved into controversy over the use of settlement funds to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” meant to compensate people who said they had been targeted by the federal government. Trump himself would not be receiving any of those funds.
Apparently, everyone but Judge Williams was done with the original case at that point. This past July, she accused Trump's legal team and government attorneys of using the lawsuit to improperly obtain the settlement. She even sanctioned two of the president's lawyers.
Jordan and Issa are now questioning whether the judge had the authority to take such actions after the president had already voluntarily dismissed the case.
“Judge Williams issued her July 13 order after the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the case, ending the dispute between the parties,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to the Judicial Conference.
Issa is not best pleased by the judge's actions, telling Fox News, “The rogue federal judges who make up the Trump Resistance in Robes continue to disappoint but never surprise.”
Jordan and Issa are asking the Judicial Conference to review Judge Williams' conduct and determine whether the matter should be referred to the Judicial Council of the Eleventh Circuit. They've requested an update by November 5.