The most long-lasting damage which will be done by President Trump isn’t from any of his executive orders, tweets, or ignorant speeches. It will probably be from the people he’s nominating to the federal judiciary.
Take the case of Jeff Mateer, who currently serves as first assistant attorney general of Texas. Trump has nominated Mateer to serve as a United States District Court judge in the Eastern District of Texas. But some of Mateer’s comments made on a radio show a few years ago could come back to haunt him at his confirmation hearing.
CNN has unearthed tapes in which Mateer, appearing on a radio show in 2013, participated in a discussion of religion by host Greg Young. Young commented:
“You can find old black and white film footage of Hitler’s organizations and of the communist regime going in and doing exactly what you’re talking about, which is ripping up and destroying all Christian symbolism within the country. It’s a pretty serious situation.”
To that, Mateer eagerly replied:
“No, you’re right, and I truly believe, because history teaches this, totalitarian governments, what they first attack is freedom of religion, freedom of beliefs. Because they know that strikes at the core of freedom. If they can destroy freedom of conscience, then every other liberty is at stake. And so, we see that in history, whether that be Nazi Germany, or communist Russia or communist China. That’s what they strike at first. And it’s just a stepping stone to taking away all freedom.”
During another appearance on Young’s show in 2014, Mateer said that transgender children are clear evidence of Satan’s plan.” As for same-sex marriage, which was legalized by the United States Supreme Court, Mateer commented:
“What is the limiting? Why couldn’t four people want to get married? Why not one man and three women? Or three women and one man?… It’s disgusting…. Somebody wanted to marry a tree. People marrying their pets.”
How could such a man ever hope to be fair if a case involving LGBT rights came before him on the bench? Clearly, he’s already made up his bigoted mind on the issue.
The damage that could be done by such extremists on the federal courts is unthinkable, and could last for decades.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org