An anti-LGBT blogger who has mocked same-sex parents and joked about “faggots” has been confirmed as a judge in Cincinnati.
John K Bush was nominated for the role in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this summer, however, quickly sparked controversy.
The nomination of blogger, who is also a believer of the Obama “birther” movement, sparked concerns from both People for the American Way (PFAW), a liberal group, and The Alliance for Justice.
Speaking at the time, PFAW exec Marge Barker said: “[He] made comments about LGBTQ people and reproductive choice that suggest an inability to be a truly disinterested and fair judge who would follow precedent rather than his own beliefs.
“He ridiculed the State Department’s acknowledgement that not all parents are opposite-sex couples [and] criticised the Kentucky Supreme Court for “immunising consensual sodomy from criminal prosecution.
“[He also] gave a speech quoting someone making comments about “faggots” with seemingly no discomfort, and wrote that “the two greatest tragedies in our country — slavery and abortion — relied on similar reasoning.”
Despite the controversies though, he was elected to the lifetime position by a majority of 51 to 47.
Bush did later say he regretted some of his posts – including the one on slavery and abortion – but brushed them aside as a “political activity”.
He claimed he would not carry his activism over to his time on the bench, but the appointment has still caused concerns.
The Alliance for Justice also previously released a report questioning Bush’s record.
Here’s the John K. Bush quote @SenFeinstein is referring to. #courtsmatter https://t.co/jkWfo3l3ES #StopBush pic.twitter.com/rGG3hRTgjw
— Alliance for Justice (@AFJustice) June 14, 2017
They noted: “Bush criticised the State Department for modifying passport application forms to account for the possibility of same-sex parents.”
Writing during the Obama administration, Bush had claimed: “Henceforth, the application will ask for ‘Mother or Parent 1’ and ‘Father or Parent 2.’ I suppose that’s better than ‘Thing One’ or ‘Thing Two’, but Hillary’s hybrid hardly eliminates my confusion.
“It’s just like the government to decide it needs to decide something like which parent is number one or number two.
“When that happens, both parents are subservient to the nanny state— more precisely, a nanny Secretary of State.”
The group added: “John K. Bush, President Trump’s nominee for the Sixth Circuit, is unsuited for the federal bench. In hundreds of blog posts as well as speeches and other writing, he has denigrated the rights of others and has used hostile and crass language to make personal attacks on people with whom he disagrees.
“He has a long history of firm adherence to an ultraconservative political ideology. He has demonstrated that he lacks appropriate judicial temperament, raising serious concerns about his ability to approach cases neutrally, setting aside his own personal views.
“Moreover, Bush has shown a willingness to accept an extremely expansive view of executive power and has said that seminal First Amendment jurisprudence protecting the free press was wrongly decided.”
