The nomination of Georgia’s first lifetime-appointed Latino federal judge was scuttled Wednesday after Republican Sen. David Perdue declined to back his appointment to the bench.
Perdue on Wednesday declined to provide a “blue slip” for Dax Lopez, a severe blow to his nomination. Both home-state senators customarily must approve of a nominee before he or she goes to the full Judiciary Committee by sending in the slip.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson last week said Lopez deserved a hearing, but he has yet to ask the committee for one. But Perdue’s seat on the Judiciary Committee essentially gives him veto power over Isakson if he decides to act.
Perdue said in a statement he became “uncomfortable” with Lopez’s participation with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials after a review of his professional and judicial record.
“I am particularly concerned with his continued participation with this organization and his public comments after he became a state judge,” said Perdue. “Unfortunately, our personal meeting, while cordial and informative, did not fully alleviate my concerns.”
Lopez, a DeKalb County State Court judge, is a Jewish Republican who is a member of the conservative Federalist Society. He was appointed to the Georgia bench by Perdue’s cousin, former Gov. Sonny Perdue. And the counsel for Perdue’s Senate campaign, Josh Belinfante, served on the panel convened by the senators that sent Lopez’s name to the White House.
When he was tapped for the seat in July by President Barack Obama it seemed to many to be a foregone conclusion. State Republican Party counsel Anne Lewis, former state House Majority Whip Ed Lindsey and a slew of other prominent GOP attorneys signed a letter to the senators in support of Lopez in September.
But a groundswell of conservative blowback quickly slowed the momentum. The attacks center on his past membership on the board of GALEO, which supports a path to citizenship for people here illegally and fought tougher state laws on immigration.
Immigration is a hot-button issue for the GOP base now, with Donald Trump – who called for mass deportations and the magnificent Mexican border wall – leading the presidential primary in Georgia and nationally. Perdue, meanwhile, campaigned for his first-term win in 2014 opposing any sort of “amnesty” for immigrants here illegally.
“There would be a political price to pay for either conservative United States senator, one of them running for re-election, letting it go to the committee process with everything that’s been revealed about GALEO,” D.A. King, an activist who has led the charge against Lopez, said in December.
Other conservatives rallied to Lopez’s side in recent weeks. Among them was Erick Erickson, the conservative WSB Radio provocateur, who said he was the “most free-market” of all the judicial picks nationwide. He called Lopez the “best pick you could hope for from the president of the United States for Georgia.”
But it wasn’t enough to surmount concerns from the GOP’s right flank. And Perdue hinted some of his Republican colleagues would have had the same fears.
“I believe similar concerns would be raised by many of my colleagues, making Judge Lopez’s final confirmation unattainable,” he said.
Former illegal alien lobbyist not right fit for federal judge
January 20, 2016
OPINION
D.A. King
With the illegal alien lobby and the donor-class Republicans on one side, and Georgia’s conservative voter base on the other, the battle over the Obama nomination of Dax Lopez for federal judge in the state is proving the adage that “politics makes strange bedfellows.”
Erickson also actually told his listeners that Lopez would have no role on immigration as a federal judge. “No spin,” pledged Erickson, although WSB is owned by Cox Enterprises, which is regularly listed as a sponsor of the pro-amnesty Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials Inc. fundraisers.
Dax Lopez joined the board of directors of GALEO in 2004. In 2010, former Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Lopez to a state court judge seat in metro-Atlanta. In July 2015, the Obama White House submitted his name to the U.S. Senate for confirmation as a federal judge. Lopez resigned from GALEO a month later after heated public opposition to his confirmation.
Federal judges are appointed for life. Lopez is in his early 40s.
GALEO boasts of actively lobbying against immigration enforcement and voter ID — and has done so since Lopez became adviser and served as treasurer and keynote speaker for at least one fundraiser.
Lopez’s public statement that he “agrees with their mission” should always be viewed with the knowledge that since its inception, the corporate-funded GALEO Inc. has viciously attacked law enforcement officers who dare to help enforce immigration laws. GALEO has marched in the streets of Atlanta for another amnesty, lobbied against state E-Verify laws designed to protect legal workers, against local jails honoring ICE holds for criminal aliens and vehemently opposed English as our official language.
GALEO’s website lists Jane Fonda as one of its “founding friends.” GALEO executive director, Jerry Gonzalez, has been a regularly invited guest at the Obama White House for strategy sessions on amnesty.
A recent Atlanta re-election fundraiser for “Republican” Lopez was made up of a “who’s who” of Democrat sponsors and attendees.
Right now, either one or both of Georgia’s Republican U.S. senators can end consideration of Lopez’s confirmation through what is known as the traditional “blue-slip” veto process. All they need do is say he is not federal judge material.
We think political expert Erickson has overlooked the hundreds of immigration-related cases federal judges have ruled on in the recent past. Including the federal lawsuit filed against Georgia’s “Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011” by the ACLU, the SPLC, and a host of other leftist open borders groups … including GALEO Inc. That lawsuit was heard in the same federal court that Lopez would serve if confirmed.
Among the lawyers suing to stop enforcement of the 2011 state law aimed at saving jobs for legal workers was Lopez’s then fellow GALEO board member, Charles Kuck.
Erickson also informed listeners of a secret deal between the Republican Establishment and the Democrats in the Senate on confirming Obama’s federal judicial nominees.
The political danger for pro-enforcement conservatives here is that Georgia’s Republican senators could ‘OK’ Lopez for advancement to the next step on confirmation, then vote “NO” on Lopez on the final vote — knowing that he would be confirmed by Democrats and enough Republicans who figure their constituents back home will never be the wiser.
Georgia’s senators could then come home to plead “not guilty” and point to a “no” vote on GALEO’s anti-enforcement Dax Lopez for federal judge.
We run a small family business and live in Cobb County and I am an inactive Republican. But more than party affiliation, I am a conservative. And to borrow a quote, on modern day politics, “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.” I am looking for ways to become active because I see little hope of the people who run the Republican party in Georgia or in Cobb honoring the conservative principles I believe in. Having started paying close attention for the last year or so, the term “Establishment Republican” has taken on new, and ominous meaning for us.
Examples would include the fact that my Republican congressman, Barry Loudermilk, voted to fund Planned Parenthood, to fund Obama’s amnesty scheme and to expand immigration of low-skilled workers and that Georgia is now giving illegal aliens a drivers license. Top that all off with the situation I have recently learned about that Obama has nominated for federal judge a just-resigned board member of a left-wing activist group called GALEO that marches in the streets with the ACLU screaming that we should not enforce our immigration laws.
Illegal alien protest in Atlanta, January 7, 2016
Dax Lopez is financed and supported in politics by a long list of Democrats, including Roy Barnes, Jason Carter and Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of the GALEO company. Under the stewardship of Dax Lopez, GALEO demands that we abolish our voter ID laws by claiming that proof of U.S. citizenship at the ballot box is somehow a “hardship” for Hispanic voters. Why are our elected officials not making it clear that even in Mexico, no one can vote without presenting a very secure photo voter ID? Where is the voice of the Georgia Republican party on the nomination of Dax Lopez for a lifetime position as a federal judge in Georgia? Why the silence? Does the Chamber of Commerce really run the Republican party?
Unless this really is Obama’s transformed “Bizarro World,” anyone who stands with the same people who lobby in the state capitol against protecting Georgia from illegal immigration for more than 10 years as Dax Lopez has done should not be considered for a federal judgeship. The clincher is that Lopez says he is a “Republican” and I now see that many establishment Republicans are urging our two Republican senators in Washington to give his nomination the “OK.” If you look up who funds this outfit, you see name like Coca-Cola, Georgia Power and Southwest Airlines along with a long list of liberal immigration lawyers.
I have never written a letter to the editor before, but I want to give notice to our Republican politicians that there are many of us out here now paying attention, and we are not going to take the silence and betrayal anymore.
Can somebody please tell me why U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson thinks he can run for re-election without speaking out against allowing somebody like Dax Lopez to become a lifetime federal judge in Georgia?
Show intro: “3, 2, 1, 0. All engine running. Lift off, we have a lift off. Erick Erickson: I guess it depends, if you’re [Jude Alison 00:00:15].
Welcome, it’s Erick here on [inaudible 00:00:17] News, 95.5 AM 750 WSB, the full number 404 872 0750 1 800 WSB Talk. Wow, breaking news – Lynn Westmoreland, congressman out of Peachtree City is going to retire from congress, already getting phone calls, a ton of phone calls from people asking me if I’ve got a pick in there – I might know someone who would be very good for that job. I’m reaching out to him to see if he’s interested. Might get a quick endorsement for me out of this, for a candidate in that race.
I want to get into that and the implications of it, and Lynn Westmoreland’s history, and rumors are he wants to lay ground for governor’s race or something. There’s a headline in the AJC today – Sam Olens may have unintentionally, or intentionally taken himself out of the race for governor with his statement on Syrian refugees. Couldn’t be helped, he’s following the law.
(Begin Lopez endorsement) I want to begin somewhere else, though, and this may make some of you a little angry with me, but I want to lay out my thinking on this for you, because there’s an issue happening right now in the US Senate that affects Georgia directly. You see, there’s a state court judge in DeKalb County, his name is Dax Lopez, and he has been nominated by the president to be a federal judge, and the problem for Dax Lopez that you need to know, for the US district court in the northern district of Georgia, is that … Well, he supports immigration reform, and before he entered in to being a judge, his political positions, he was very aggressively for immigration reform. People are upset, conservative activists are upset about Dax Lopez, because he’s for immigration reform.
Folks, I am told rather privately, although I can say publicly, that the democrats and the republicans are structuring deals for this year, and what they will do, and one of the issues is going to be judges to be approved, and one of the judgeships that the president is very concerned about is the northern district of Georgia. There have been a number of hurdles getting a judge along the way for the seat, and the president wants the seat filled.
Here’s what I’m telling you: If you’re not going with Dax Lopez to be a judge, there’s going to be a vote. It’s going to come to the floor, and all of the democrats, and a handful of republicans are going to vote for someone to fill that seat, and you’re not going to get a better nominee than Dax Lopez. That’s a fact. Dax Lopez, of all the judicial picks by the president nationwide, he’s probably the most free market. Most willing to understand that business needs to be able to do business. He’s going to be the best pick you could hope for from the president of the United States, for Georgia. He is the least liberal nominee I think the president has probably put on the bench nationwide at a district court position. Members of the Conservative Federalist Society have come out in favor of him, a number of republicans have come out in favor of him – I’m just telling you, you don’t go with Dax Lopez, there’s a deal being cut in congress on judicial votes, and if you’re not going with him, you’re going to get some wackadoo liberal, and there are going to be enough republicans to vote for that person.
Either go with Dax Lopez, or we’re going to get a judge on the bench who’s far worse for business, far worse for freedom, far worse for individual liberty than he is – And he’s not bad on any of those issues, including individual liberty. He’s not. DeKalb County state court judge, a lot of my republican friends up there, conservatives all of them, a lot of them Ted Cruz supporters, even – All like him, think he’s a good guy, think he would be a great judge. It is the immigration issue that is the hurdle, guess what? He’s not going to have a role to play in that issueon the federal bench in the northern district of Georgia, he’s just not. I would say, Johnny Isakson, David Perdue, go on and let him go to the floor and vote for him, get him on the bench. I think it’s the right thing to do. I think that he would be far better than anyone else we would get down the line, and I hope that Perdue and Isakson will take that into consideration that a fire-breathing conservative like me thinks that this is the best pick we’re going to get, and he would be good pick for a republican, frankly, as well – And that’s the truth, no spin, so go for it.
Now, let’s step out and check traffic before we get onto the-
Thank you, sir. Sorry, the call screening program has locked out, and apparently if I push this little button on Windows 7 it requires that the computer starts talking to me, I had no idea if you guys heard that. All right, someone else is going to have to control alt delete because I’m locked out of the computer for call screening, but the phone number’s 40487207501800 WSB Talk. I see a text coming through from a buddy of mine to repeat what I said at the very end.
Yeah, if a republican president nominated Dax Lopez based on his record, based on his background, based on where he is and the people who are supporting him in the Federalist Society, the Chamber of Commerce and what not, he would be a logical person for a republican to pick as well, and republicans would be falling all over themselves to praise him and get him on the bench, and they would. I don’t have a problem with the guy. He’s the best pick we could possibly have here in the northern district of Georgia. The northern district covers … It’s kind of weird, they’re diagonal, the districts. There’s the southern district, the middle district and the northern district. The middle district actually covers Athens, Macon, Albany. The southern district, Brunswick, Valdosta, Waycross, Savannah. The northern district, Atlanta up to Gainesville, that area, and he would be a good pick.
I know they’re cutting a deal, I know they are. I have a credible source telling me they’re mapping out, Harry [inaudible 00:06:50] this year, one of the issues is judges, and if they don’t get Dax Lopez they’re going to get someone else, and that someone else is going to be far worse, so let’s get a move on with him.”
Yet another letter to Georgia’s U.S. Senators forwarded to us in opposition to further consideration of GALEO’s Dax Lopez for federal judge. We post U.S. Immigration Service Senior Agent (Retired) Robert Trent’s letter below.
Greg Williams’ post below has now become a topic on the AJC’s widely-read Political Insider blog. GALEO’s executive director and major-league, race-baiting hate monger, Jerry Gonzalez, has been allowed to create a distraction conversation on the battle over Lopez’s nomination to federal court with a whole-cloth-lie Twitter post accusing me (DAK) of having done an an “anti-sementic post.” It is clear that the Lopez advancement to committee hearing is in trouble and this is what happens when hater liberals like Angry Jerry start losing.
We hope you read William’s post carefully and decide for yourself if writing that he “respects other’s right of religious determination” while professing his own faith is “anti-sementic.” I don’t. We hope you will give consideration to the same on granting Greg’s request for a forum on which to express his objections to Dax Lopez becoming a federal judge.
For the record, I didn’t have any idea and have never given any thought to Lopez’s religious beliefs until I read Galloway’s September 2015 profile of Lopez in which he wrote “Wait — didn’t I mention that Dax Lopez is both Latino and Jewish?”
This was long after our on-going campaign to find a suitable, pro-enforcement federal judge nominee began and was covered, but, does Lopez’s ethnicity and his religion somehow qualify him for federal judge?
On today’s Daily Jolt, Galloway wags a finger at Williams – and from his wording, perhaps everyone who opposes Lopez for federal judge – with “Some opponents of Dax Lopez’ nomination to a U.S. District judgeship are straying close to a line that ought not be crossed.” Presumably because of Greg Williams’ remarks on my website.
The Political Insider goes on to inflame what for most people is a non-event with “All of this to say that opponents of his nomination to the federal bench have heretofore focused on Lopez’ association with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. Now they are drifting into an area that threatens to strip them of all credibility.”
Would that be Williams even obliquely referring to Lopez’s faith? Like Galloway did?
In the very educated opinion of this pro-enforcement American, Jerry Gonzalez is an unhinged slime-ball looking for traction on a way to direct the discussion away from Obama’s nomination of Dax Lopez for federal judge with the usual goop. We are surprised anybody went for it. Welcome to the inside of 21st century “politics.”
Posting this update and typing “Hate-group” Jerry-Gonzalez’s name has taken me 30 minutes that I will never get back, and has created the feeling that I need another shower…
Not because I feel the need to indulge anyone concerned, but to illustrate the vile absurdity of the smear from Jerry Gonzalez, I post the e-mail sent from here to Williams when I figured out what Angry Jerry was reaching for in his Twitter smear last night.
HEADS UP
Greg,
It took me awhile to figure out what this crazy POS meant, but I am now assuming he means your OPED on the DIS site from the other day.
My grandfather was Jewish. I am a Christian. I have no concern about anyone’s religion. I only send this to you as a heads up. It never occurred to me that they would try this with your OPED…
These people will stop at nothing and will smear anyone who gets in their way.
dak
***
We are happy to post the below commentary from the well-known Georgia Young Republican and radio personality, Greg Williams. The added educational links are all ours.
The Obama Judicial appointment legacy includes two lifetime appointments of left leaning Supreme Court Justices ( Kagan and Sotomayor ). On the Attorney General specturm, former AG Eric ( Fast & Furious ) Holder and his AG successor Loretta “We gonna track your use of the 1st Amendment” Lynch have shown a propensity for biased and selective prosecutions focused on political vendettas while simultaneously stonewalling GOP efforts to investigate the Executive Branch and its myriad scandals. Based on this sordid Judicial history, it confounds me why anyone would knowingly contribute to the Obama legacy through support of his Federal Judge appointments.
“I question the strategy and logic from anyone with a vested interest in Georgia of approving an Obama appointed Federal Judge with a lifetime term during Obama’s last year. President Obama has demonstrated his lack of respect for the Constution and activist zeal with several missives, recently conveying legal status to 5 million illegal aliens, an Executive Order successfully challenged in Court. This specific Obama Judicial nominee, Judge Dax Lopez, has a palpable lack of experience on the bench and dubious activist alliances.
Of secondary concern, Judge Lopez experienced an undoubtedly transforming religious epiphany during his conversion to Judaism…I can’t claim any expertise in that arena as I’ve never questioned the role of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life but I do respect the right of others in their personal religious self-determination. Dax Lopez has already exhibited a propensity to reinvent oneself via religious convesion and I believe the populace is owed more data before assessing qualifications and competence. While there are nuanced questions about his role advocating for activist organizations, I will leave that for others to debate.
If Dax is truly qualified for federal judgeship, then I’m sure the next POTUS will articulate and explain the nomination and assuage the current negative sentiment against this lifetime appointment.”
