REQUIEM FOR A FEDERAL JUDGE

 Judge Altman went to Colombia and Yale. (So did Rumpole. We visited, didn't get in, and left). He had a cup of coffee as an AUSA, did a stint in private practice- realized no real person could bill 2200 hours a year, and was appointed by you know who to the Federal Bench.  Once on the bench he has received very good reviews as an intelligent and thoughtful jurist. He threw himself into his job, mastered the learning curve quickly, and basically has done everything right. 

Then Hamas attacked Israel, a Yale law professor tweeted on X "Settlers are not civilians. This is not hard" (@zareenagerwal) and also posted a video of the attack and X'd (tweeted?) "It's been an extraordinary day". 

 Judge Altman, a Yalie, found himself writing a thoughtful response as to why under international law the people butchered and murdered were not settlers, why Hamas's bloody attack had no basis in law (or humanity for that matter),  and then he pondered pressing the send button. 

To send or not to send, that is the question. Whether tis noblier in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of a dopey Yale law professor/apologist for brutal Hamas murderers, or to take arms against idiocy and wade into the singular most contentious issue of the day.

 Careers larger than Judge Altman's have cratered upon the rocky shoals of the Symplegades Clashing Rocks of the Israeli/ Hamas conflict (including Rumpole's blog, where we dared to speak up for the innocent Palestinians being bombed before Obama weighed in and agreed with us). 

Eventually Judge Altman decided, like Theodore Roosevelt that he did not belong with "those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat",  and he spoke his piece and sent in his article. The backlash was swift, expected, and vitriolic. 

Critics (see the Roosevelt quote above from "The Man in the Arena") weighed in that a federal judge has no right to criticize a Yale Professor and seemingly take Israel's side in the conflict. Judge Raag Singhal SDFL (and another you know who appointee) weighed in in defense of his friend and colleague, and (and you knew this was coming) so did Judge Milt Hirsch. 

Judge Altman's response was not political, but legal. The Yale professor was wrong on the law- no surprise to Rumpole who chews up and spits out Yalie lawyers as a hobby ("Not accept me in your law school? Well I'll show you..."). 

Here is Judge Altman's article in the National Review with the title The Israeli's Slaughtered By Hamas Were Not Settlers. 

DOM covers is all on his blog, including the national newsletter naming Judge Altman "federal judge of the week" (who even knew there was such a thing? We should have thought of that) and Judge Singhal's defense of his friend and colleague. 

All in all just another week in South Florida. The only thing more controversial Judge Altman could have done was defend embattled Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh. But he wisely left that contretemps alone.