Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Screenshot, Youtube (CNN), Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Judge Reggie Walton, known for his appearance on CNN criticizing Donald Trump, faced criticism himself from a D.C. court of appeals panel.

The panel rebuked Walton for approving what they deemed unconstitutional surveillance practices against a January 6 defendant, actions seen as politically motivated due to Walton's disagreement with the defendant's views.

“The district court plainly erred in imposing the computer-monitoring condition without considering whether it was ‘reasonably related’ to the relevant sentencing factors and involved ‘no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary’ to achieve the purposes behind the sentencing,” the panel concluded, as reported by legal analyst Julie Kelly.

Mike Davis of the Article 3 Project commented on Walton's conduct, suggesting he should brush up on his legal expertise before pursuing a career in punditry.

“Maybe Judge Reggie Walton should spend less time moonlighting as a CNN commentator? And more time learning basic law?” Davis wrote on X.

Davis's pithy response is the mere cherry atop his months-long effort to expose Judge Walton's purported partisan bias, on which Davis expounded in a complaint filed last month.

Davis highlighted Canon 3A(6) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which states, “A judge should not make public comment on the merits of a matter pending or impending in any court.”

“We are seeing a dangerous pattern in which DC federal judges, like … Reggie Walton have convinced themselves they have a duty — unbounded by the judicial canons — to make extrajudicial pronouncements about President Trump,” Davis stated in his complaint.

Davis also noted the impropriety of a sitting federal judge moonlighting as a CNN commentator on a pending case. His complaint about Walton violating the judicial Code of Conduct was directed at Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Walton, overseeing several Capitol riot cases, defended his CNN remarks as an effort to make his sentencing messages resonate with the individuals sentenced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCx9cetyiuM

He had criticized Trump for supposedly not caring about democracy but rather only caring about his personal power, calling the 45th President a “charlatan” and questioning Trump's willingness to accept electoral defeat. Trump had declared he would step down as president after the 2020 election certification.

“I made the comments I made in the context of the sentencing I’ve imposed because I’m hoping what I say to the individuals I’m sentencing will resonate,” Judge Walton said on CNN, as relayed by The Politics Brief.