A Right Wing Blogger Who Joked About ‘F*ggots’ Was Just Confirmed as a Federal Appeals Court Judge. Thanks, Republicans.

John K. Bush’s Wife on Board of Group That Raised Millions for Senate GOP Majority Leader McConnell

Republicans in the U.S. Senate just confirmed John K. Bush as a judge to sit on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Bush is a former right wing blogger who for over a decade penned fake news stories supporting Donald Trump’s birtherism and other far right wing conspiracies under a pseudonym on his wife’s blog. As an attorney he once said in a public speech he did not want to be mistaken for a “faggot.” It apparently was meant to be funny.

Bush thought it appropriate to say, quoting Hunter S. Thompson, “I come here every year, and let me tell you one thing I’ve learned—this is no town to be giving people the impression you’re some kind of faggot.” 

The final vote on his nomination was 51-47, entirely along party lines. Every Republican present voted for Bush. On the Republican side, only Senator John McCain, recovering from brain surgery and diagnosed with cancer, was absent. 

Bush frequently used an extremist website known as WND for his blogging material. That website is known for spreading false information, and was highly active during the height of birtherism. 

He also has equated abortion and slavery, and drawn parallels between Barack Obama and Monica Lewinsky, as Quartz reported last month. 

27 LGBTQ civil rights groups, led by Lambda Legal, joined together to oppose Bush’s lifetime appointment to the federal bench. Their call was ignored by Senate Republicans.

During the Judiciary Committee vote, Chairman Chuck Grassley admonished Committee Democrats, saying, “Democrats certainly set the standard that prolific bloggers who write with no holds barred are certainly eligible to be judges,” He added, “I don’t think we should change that standard now.”

One group that advocated tirelessly against Bush is the Alliance for Justice.

“While Bush pontificates on a broad swath of issues, one common theme runs throughout his writings: Bush displays a remarkable contempt for any issue he deems liberal or progressive, often launching into personal attacks on individuals he disagrees with,” the Alliance for Justice, opposing his nomination, noted in May.

Bush’s wife sits on the board of a group that raised $14 million for the re-election campaign of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Kentuckian, the AFJ also notes. 

Bush’s wife, Bridget Bush, who is also an attorney in Louisville, served on the board of directors of the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalition is a 501(c) (4) organization that played a pivotal role in aiding Senator Mitch McConnell’s reelection bid in 2014. The group raised over $14 million during the course of the campaign, spending over $7 million on expenditures expressly advocating for McConnell. According to a news report at the time, “[c]ampaign  finance reformers say the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition is the epitome of ‘dark money’ nonprofit groups that have little or nothing to do with promoting social welfare, as their IRS designation would suggest.”

And it appears that bought him a seat on the federal bench.

“Bush’s nomination to the Sixth Circuit appears to have come at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Bush has been acquainted with Senator McConnell since at least 2002 when Bush authored an amicus brief on McConnell’s behalf in a case involving Kentucky’s campaign finance laws,” the Alliance for Justice writes.

In his paperwork to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bush explains that in November 2016, presumably after the presidential election, he met with Senator McConnell in Louisville where Bush “expressed [his] interest in serving as a federal judge.” Bush says that he has “been in contact with Leader McConnell and representatives from his office since that time.”

The AFJ also notes, “Bush failed to make clear he would be an impartial judge. Senator Tillis questioned whether, given his blog posts, Bush could be impartial on the bench. Tillis asked Bush, ‘[d]o you think that impartiality is an aspiration or an absolute expectation?’ When Bush responded, ‘[i]t is an aspiration. I will do my best to be impartial,’ Tillis fired back, ‘I actually have a concern with someone who thinks impartiality is an aspiration. I think it’s an expectation.'”

The group also observes “Bush has advocated stripping First Amendment protections from the press,” which, given his decade of fake news blogging, seems ironic.

LGBT organizations and activists are outraged.

“While it is incredibly disappointing that a majority of the United States Senate would hand a lifetime appointment to someone who has such open disdain for so many Americans, we will not be deterred,” Sharon McGowan, Lambda Legal’s Director of Strategy said in a statement. “Lambda Legal will continue to resist, push back, and fight against any nomination this administration puts forward who does not believe in equality and dignity under the law, for all Americans. We are thankful to those Senators who held their ground in opposing this nomination, and will be shoulder-to-shoulder with you in future confirmation fights, particularly on nominees with anti-LGBT extremist positions and records.”

LGBTQ people now has every right to believe any case that comes before soon-to-be Judge Bush’s court will not receive a fair and impartial ruling. 

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