The judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade who ruled that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are illegal have a history of Democrat Party activism.
Each of the members of the three-judge panel issuing the Wednesday ruling – which was stayed Thursday by an appeals court, allowing the tariffs to continue – fit the profile of other activists judges who continued their political activism after joining the court.
Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif, and Jane Restani have histories of supporting Democrat candidates that span as far back as 45 years ago and have thwarted Trump’s authority in both of his administrations, earning allegations of judicial activism.
Trump teed off on the judges Thursday night on Truth Social. “Where do these initial three Judges come from?” he asked. “How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of “TRUMP?” What other reason could it be?”
Katzmann, nominated by Barack Obama in 2015, attended Columbia, Oxford, and Yale Law School and later clerked for Stephen Breyer (while Breyer was on the First Circuit Court of Appeals). He was a researcher at the Center for Criminal Justice at Harvard Law School as well as a lecturer at Harvard Law School.
Although Katzmann is a registered unaffiliated voter in Massachusetts, he voted in the 2018, 2016, and 2014 Democrat primaries.
In November 2021, Katzmann “struck down some tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on imported solar panels, finding that Trump had clearly overstepped his authority by hiking those tariffs last year.”
Katzmann also was part of a three-judge panel in Massachusetts that found a Massachusetts law “banning the sale, transfer or possession of an assault weapon is not unconstitutional under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.”
Additionally, he participated in a mock trial and appeals program by leftwing Discovering Justice, a group working for an “equitable democracy.”
The group’s website posted “Working for Justice: A Letter to the Discovering Justice Community, which states ,“It is abundantly clear to all of us that this justice system does not work for everyone.”
The additional two judges on the panel, although Democrats, were appointed by Republicans due to a law requiring no more than five of the court’s nine judges coming from the same political party.
Reif, nominated by Trump in 2019, donated $250 to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton in 2016, $265 to Obama’s inaugural committee in 2013, $250 to the DCCC in 1997, and $250 to the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton in 1996, according to Federal Election Commission records. In total, he gave $1,015 to Democrats from 1996 to 2016.
Also Ivy League-educated, attending Princeton and Columbia Law School, Reif had a long career working in government beginning in 1987 with the US International Trade Commission (1987-1989), Office of the US Trade Representative (1989-1993, 2009-2019), and House Ways and Means Committee (1993-1994, 1998-2009).
Reif also taught in various capacities at Georgetown University Law Center (1995-2007), Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton (2003, 2008, 2012, 2017), Columbia Law School, and University of California Washington Center (2014- )
According to his Senate questionnaire, Reif has an extensive career volunteering for Democrat candidates:
- Volunteered for John Lindsay Campaign for the Democratic Nomination for the US Senate in 1980.
- Wrote a tribute to Democratic Congressman Robert Matsui.
- Volunteered for Edward (Ted) Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1980.
- Volunteered for former Democratic Rep. Rush Holt’s 2000 reelection campaign.
- Volunteered for Democratic candidate Dan Wofford’s House campaign in 2002.
- Volunteered for John Kerry in 2004.
- Volunteered for Democratic candidate Lois Murphy’s House campaign in 2006.
- Volunteered for Barack Obama in 2008.
Notably, Reif never registered for the selective service, according to his questionnaire.
In 2016, Reif co-authored an article titled Problem of Over-Reach by Appellate Body Decisions Has Become More Serious, wherein he decries appellate body overreach within the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Restani, a Reagan appointee, attended leftwing UC Berkeley for undergrad, where she received a political science degree in 1969.
During the recent tariff trial, Restani asked the Trump administration if “courts were helpless to block the president’s emergency declarations no matter how ’crazy’ they were.”
Restani was a thorn in Trump’s side during his first administration as well.
She joined a decision in 2019 that imposed “direct and firm” limits on Trump’s use of Section 232 steel tariffs on Turkey, with the court ultimately ruling additional steel tariffs on Turkey were unconstitutional. And in April 2018, she denied a request for injunctive relief in Severstal Export GmbH v. United States based on the allegation that President Trump exceeded his authority under Section 232 by considering “the overall economic situation” of a particular industry.
Although the appeals court has stayed the ruling by the three-judge panel, the court has not yet ruled on the merits.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
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