California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement in response to a ruling by a panel of judges for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down a law banning people with domestic violence convictions from owning firearms.
The panel from the Appellate Court covering Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas said the law violated the Second Amendment gun rights of U.S. citizens.
Newsom opposed the ruling and called out three of the judges on the panel by name.
“Judge Cory Wilson, Judge James Ho, and Judge Edith Jones,” Newsom said. “These three zealots are hellbent on a deranged vision of guns for all, leaving government powerless to protect its people.”
Newsom also called San Diego U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez for his rulings on several state laws referring to him as an “activist judge.”
One of the state firearm laws the judge struck down compared an AR-15 assault rifle to a Swiss army knife.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-California equated Newsom’s statements to pressuring judges into falling in line with his Leftist agenda.
“Gavin Newsom has repeatedly shown a disdain for the separation of powers that is central to our constitutional form of government,” Kiley said.
“He used the COVID state of emergency to rule the state by decree and impose the most radical lockdowns and mandates in the country,” Kiley continued.
“And he has repeatedly attacked judges who do not toe his line, often in personal and unhinged terms, in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance.”
Kiley added that any “elected official who cares about the rule of law should condemn Newsom’s irresponsible behavior.”
“Additionally, whether through ignoring his own lockdown mandates and dining at the French Laundry or sending his kids to private school while opposing school choice, Gavin Newsom’s hypocrisy knows no bounds,” the congressman said.
“Going after federal judges is only the latest example,” Kiley continued. “Perhaps instead of continuing to advance his delusional presidential aspirations, Newsom should finally live up to his own standards.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Kiley’s colleague California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said, “Gavin Newsom may think attacking federal judges on the other side of the country distracts from California’s growing budget deficit, rising gas prices, and continued fleeing of residents to other states.”
“But it’s beneath the office he holds and yet another squandered opportunity for him to do his job,” Issa added.
The media has been awkwardly silent about Newsom’s remarks in a 180 from accusing Trump of trying to undermine the independence of the judiciary when he spoke about the judge ruling on a case related to Trump University.
California GOP chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson called it a double standard when speaking with Fox News Digital. She said this “is just the latest double standard of the media’s treatment of Republicans versus Democrats.”
“If the left-wing media feels the need to give a Republican’s comments about the judiciary extensive negative coverage, Gavin Newsom should not be immune to the same treatment,” Patterson said.
People in the media don’t see it as a double standard or hypocrisy. They justify their negative coverage of Republicans because they view them as bad people and anything is fair game.
