A Delicious Judicial Diva: Donald Trump's Older Sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry
Donald Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, is a well-respected federal judge -- but she has some things in common with her brash little brother.
During the Republican presidential debate featuring real estate developer and reality TV star Donald Trump, I tweeted this tasty tidbit about the Donald:
On one level, this is surprising. A distinguished federal appellate judge and a brash, tacky real estate developer would seem to have little in common — besides, well, their impressively architectural hair:
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But it turns out that you can see their shared DNA. Despite their different jobs, they both have big personalities. Back when I worked as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey and wrote the Underneath Their Robes blog under a pseudonym, I appeared before Judge Barry’s court by day and blogged about her by night. I declared Judge Barry to be “quite the Judicial Diva,” noting that as a “former prosecutrix, Judge Barry is a smart and sassy lady known for ladling out the judicial sauce, both at oral argument and in published opinions.”
So both Judge Barry and her little brother are colorful and outspoken. And they also sometimes say politically incorrect things about women, as highlighted just now by the New York Times:
The outspoken scion of the New York real estate developer Fred C. Trump stood on stage in Washington one day in 1992 and told a mostly female crowd of law enforcement agents to lighten up when it came to sexual harassment.
“Professional hypochondriacs,” the speaker said, were making it hard for “men to be themselves” and were turning “every sexy joke of long ago, every flirtation,” into “sexual harassment,” thus ruining “any kind of playfulness and banter. Where has the laughter gone?” As for boorish behavior, the best way to disarm it was with “humor and gentle sarcasm,” or better yet, that “potent weapon” of a “feminine exterior and a will of steel.”
A “feminine exterior and a will of steel” — I love that line, previously noted by David Margolick in a 1992 Times article about Judge Barry. It makes an appearance around page 200 in Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), attributed by Judge Christina Wong Stinson to “a wise woman judge who has served on the bench for decades.”
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Today’s Times article connects the dots between Judge Barry and her famous, controversial brother:
The aversion to political correctness and the dispensing of unorthodox advice were straight from the playbook of Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate who has made a business, and now the beginnings of a political career, out of over-the-top oratory. But these particular Trumpisms came instead from his older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.
The Times piece, by Jason Horowitz, goes on to describe Judge Barry’s impressive and path-breaking career. We won’t rehash it — we discussed it in this prior post, based on Margolick’s 1992 article — but definitely check out Horowitz’s article if you’re not familiar with it. Horowitz also points out some fun facts about Her Honor:
Known for chain smoking and driving a Jaguar, Ms. Barry also took pride in her after-work homemaking. “I do the laundry, I do the shopping, I do the dishes,” she told The Chicago Sun-Times in 1989.
She’s also a fan of fine Scotch, Above the Law sources tell me.
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After today’s Times piece, I corresponded with a former Third Circuit clerk who shared some additional observations:
A lot of people really like her — they think she’s “saucy” — but my impression of her is that she’s a bully on the bench.
Is this really that shocking? Diva is as diva does!
And here’s another way that she’s like her brother:
Frankly, if you watched her sit in an immigration-related case, you wouldn’t be surprised she shares the Donald’s DNA.
See, e.g., her dissent in Galarza v. Szalcyzkzyk.
This tipster did have a few nice things to say about Judge Barry to balance out the criticism:
She’s popular. She’s funny and charismatic. She’s good friends with some of the liberals — she and Midge [Judge Marjorie O. Rendell] are close.
Speaking of Judge Rendell and Judge Barry, here’s a funny story about the two of them. Back in the Underneath Their Robes days, Rendell made UTR’s list of Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary, while Judge Barry did not. One of Judge’s Barry’s clerks asked her if she was upset about not making the list when Judge Rendell did.
“Hotness fades,” Judge Barry quipped. “Diva-hood is forever.”
P.S. If you’d like to check out what Judge Barry looks and sounds like (or looked and sounded like back in 1992), check out this video from the Federal Judicial Center, which gives you a sense of her poise and polish:
Familiar Talk on Women, From an Unfamiliar Trump [New York Times]
At the Bar [New York Times]
Criminal Trial Procedure [Federal Judicial Center via YouTube]
