'Mic drop if I've ever heard one': Katie Phang floored by judge's harsh rebuke of Blanche

Katie Phang thinks Judge Patrick Schiltz’s written response was a mic drop. Maybe she missed the part where Schiltz told The New York Times that the Trump administration is “a grave threat to the rule of law.” That is not a judge neutrally administering justice. That is a political statement, and the DOJ was right to call it out.

Schiltz now leans on an advisory opinion saying judges may speak on “core judiciary matters.” There is a difference between defending judicial independence and joining a partisan pile-on about immigration enforcement. Calling the administration a grave threat is not a judicial function. It’s commentary. And when seven judges sit for a newspaper story during a policy fight, they are not acting as impartial arbiters. They are trying to shape public opinion. Todd Blanche’s complaint against them was entirely appropriate.

Then there is Phang’s gotcha moment. Blanche said he is not bound by judicial canons because he is not a judge, and he is allowed to fight for his prosecutors. Phang twisted that into an admission that the DOJ is violating court orders. No, he explained why the administration sees those orders as illegitimate. The judges, in Blanche’s telling, are the ones ignoring Supreme Court precedent. That may be a debatable legal position, but it is not a confession. If the left wants to argue the merits, fine. But pretending a prosecutor can’t push back against an openly political bench is just silly.

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