Courts

Rand Paul Is An Insufferable Dick -- Blocks Law To Protect Federal Judges

Legislation named after Judge Esther Salas's son held up so Rand Paul can throw a tantrum.

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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

After Judge Esther Salas was attacked in her home and lost her son to a crazed gunman, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez drafted legislation to make it a crime for data brokers to sell personal identifying information of federal judges. Dubbed Daniel’s Law after Daniel Anderl, Judge Salas’s deceased son, the bill creates a common sense disincentive that could deter future attacks.

So Rand Paul blocked it because he’s a complete dick.

Yes, the senator who whines about being “attacked” by people standing around and chanting feels the need to unilaterally hold up a law designed to protect judges. At least he’s doing it in the midst of a Newsmax temper tantrum about federal judges “stealing” the election — no gun-toting wingnuts in that audience!

Paul offered the following for his move:

“I really think that this is important that we protect addresses for our judges, but it’s also important that we do this for our elected officials,” he said, citing the attempted assassinations of Reps. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) in 2011 and Steve Scalise (R-La.) in 2017.

Great point! Then write another fucking bill. Is there a paper shortage on Capitol Hill or something? Also, Giffords and Scalise were both attacked in public… no one needed any personal information to find them so extending this bill to cover Congress would have done exactly nothing for them.

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Other Republicans objected to increased funding for the Marshals charged with protecting judges in court and forced Menendez to alter the bill to remove funding to state governments to offset the costs of enforcing the law. But only Paul was willing to straight-up block the law.

How do we know this “protecting Congress” talk is disingenuous bullshit? Rand didn’t care about protecting legislators even after his neighbor beat the shit out of him for making his house an eyesore. He just wants to grandstand about how attacked he felt that the hoi polloi would dare speak to a federal lawmaker in public like the snowflake he is.

This guy is a joke. Unfortunately, he’s a joke with the power to single-handedly endanger federal judges.

Rand Paul blocks federal Daniel’s Law [New Jersey Globe]

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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