Commentary: Protesting an Anti-Trans Trump Judge Isn’t Disrespectful, It’s American

March 07, 2023 1 min read

By Elie Mystal
The Nation
March 15, 2023

Excerpt: As a judge, Duncan is an embarrassment, and as a person he appears to be vile. That combination made him the perfect candidate for this particular Federalist Society stunt: Duncan (a judge based in Louisiana) went to Stanford (a law school based in California) to talk about “Covid, guns, and Twitter.” I can only assume FedSoc wanted him to come because the Flat-Earth Society couldn’t afford his honorarium. He received exactly the welcome one would expect: Students (many of them LGBTQ) protested, made signs, shouted.

The entire escapade sure seems like a set-up. Duncan went into a hostile environment spoiling for a fight, got one, videotaped it, and then ran to his media spokes-buddies to cast himself as a victim. Why? Because being a “victim” is how you get ahead in the Republican judicial promotion sweepstakes.


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