Ronald Reagan appointed some of the best judges money can buy… and in this case, has.
Today, Judge Martin Feldman, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, sided with a drilling company which had argued that the Obama administration’s blanket, 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was illegal. The drilling company, Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, LA, claimed financial distress from the imposition of the moratorium. In the ruling handed down this afternoon, Judge Feldman agreed, writing that the administration made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision that would have an “immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.” Like many judges presiding in the Gulf region, Feldman owns lots of energy stocks, including Transocean, Halliburton, and two of BP’s largest U.S. private shareholders — BlackRock (7.1%) and JP Morgan Chase (28.3%). Here’s a list of Feldman’s income in 2008 (amounts listed unless under $1,000):
BlackRock ($12000- $36000)
Ocean Energy ($1000 – $2500)
NGP Capital Resources ($1000 – $2500)
Quicksilver Resources ($5000 – $15000)
Hercules Offshore ($6000 – $17500)
Provident Energy
Peabody Energy
PenGrowth Energy
RPC Inc
Atlas Energy Resources
Parker Drilling
TXCO Resources
EV Energy Partners
Rowan Companies
BPZ Resources
El Paso Corp
KBR Inc
Chesapeake Energy
ATP Oil & Gas
In his opinion today, Feldman wrote, “Oil and gas production is quite simply elemental to Gulf communities.”…[emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Here’s Rachel Maddow’s take on it.
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This guy’s portfolio could be the subject of a new book: Who’s Who in Cheney’s Office? Why didn’t he recuse himself? I think I know. He’s just a run of the mill, average, greedy, ideologue, corrupt, activist Republican judge.
The administration is appealing, and Salazar is rewriting the order.
4 Responses to “GOP Judge Has Deep Pockets”
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I wish Republicans would make up their minds whether they like, or don’t like, activist judges who legislate from the bench.
Now Tom, don’t you realize that ‘librul’ activist judges are imposing nazi socialism, but conservatime activist judges are just preserving the Constitution when the make unconstitutional rulings? 😯
Hey, Judge Shithead, there is nothing ‘arbitrary and capricious’ about millions of gallons of oil spewing from the Deep Water Horizon disaster. Safety rules were violated and until that gets straightened out, nothing is ‘arbitrary and capricious’ about it.
And can you say ‘conflict of interest’? Hey Judge Shithead, you should have recused yourself from your obvious conflict of interest from all your dirty oil stock money. Can’t Obama issue an Executive Order and can that be overturned by a judge? I seriously don’t know, so someone please help me out here. Thanks.
Actually, Lisa, this was an executive order. Federal judges can overrule executive orders, if they find the orders in violation of federal statutes.