A Judge Who Is Doing His Job

Surprise, surprise… some judges do base their rulings on the law.

Down in Texas one judge doesn't let little things like legal precedence and Supreme Court rulings get in the way of their agenda. The judge who is hearing the North Carolina case on HB2 is asking all the right questions.

Federal judge has lots of questions about HB2
How is it enforced, Judge Thomas Schroeder asked. “There is no enforcement mechanism of the law,” McCrory's attorney told him. “Then why have it?” the judge asked.
Charlotte Observer
By Anne Blythe
August 1, 2016

WINSTON-SALEM
The federal judge who will decide whether House Bill 2 should be suspended while lawsuits make their way through court had pointed questions Monday for attorneys representing Gov. Pat McCrory and legislators at a hearing.

“How does this law make bathrooms and changing facilities safer?” U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder asked South Carolina-based attorney Butch Bowers, who represented McCrory at the three-hour hearing.

How is it enforced, Schroeder also asked in many different ways.

“There is no enforcement mechanism of the law,” Bowers told him.

“Then why have it?” Schroeder asked.

For much of Monday morning and the first hour of the afternoon, Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, raised question after question for attorneys arguing for and against the four-month-old law, which was adopted to nullify a Charlotte ordinance that expanded non-discrimination protections to gay, lesbian and transgender people.
[…]
Schroeder noted in his questioning of the attorneys Monday that he had no transcripts or evidence that lawmakers had discussed the issue publicly before voting on the bill.

“Was there any kind of hearing on this bill?” Schroeder asked.

Last week the judge made his ruling,

Federal judge issues limited injunction against HB2, cites Title IX protections
Winston-Salem Journal
By Michael Hewlett
August 27, 2016


A transgender girl who is a high school student at UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem will be able to use the restroom that aligns with her gender identity, according to a ruling Friday by a federal judge that narrowly and temporarily blocks a part of North Carolina’s House Bill 2.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder granted a preliminary injunction that prohibits the UNC system from enforcing the restroom portion of HB2 against Hunter Schafer, the high school student at UNCSA, and two other transgender plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits filed by several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Justice.
[…]
In an 83-page ruling, Schroeder said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that HB2 violates federal anti-discrimination law Title IX, as interpreted by the U.S. Department of Education. His decision comes less than a month after he presided over a hearing in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem about the motion for a preliminary motion.

The judge went on to write,

Schroeder wrote in his decision released Friday that so far the defendants have not provided any evidence that allowing transgender people to use the restroom of their gender identity poses a privacy or public-safety risk.

“Ultimately, the record reflects what counsel for Governor McCrory candidly speculates was the status quo ante in North Carolina in recent years: some transgender individuals have been quietly using bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity, without public awareness or incident,” Schroeder wrote.

And since I pointed out that the judge in the Texas that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor was appointed by President George W. Bush, I should point out that judge Thomas Schroeder was also appointed by President George W. Bush.