The federal judge set to rule on the Trump Justice Department's motion to drop corruption charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams is a self-described "wild-eyed sort of leftist" who faced a contentious confirmation process over his "hateful" comments about Republicans.
Judge Dale Ho, whom President Joe Biden appointed to sit on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2021, will hold the high-profile hearing on Wednesday. His confirmation hearing also included fireworks, with GOP senators like John Kennedy (La.) and Mike Lee (Utah) grilling Ho over controversial statements disparaging conservatives.
Ho, for example, has argued that the Republican Party is infected by an "anti-democratic virus" and suggested he is motivated by his "hate" for Republicans. The former director of the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union's voting litigation project, Ho has also mocked Trump's DOJ as the "keystone cops," attacked the Electoral College, and accused Republicans of placing "strict conditions on voting."
The judge’s vocal opposition to Republicans and the Trump DOJ could raise questions about Ho's ability to rule impartially on Adams’s case. Left-wing activist groups have asked Ho to reject the Adams dismissal request, calling it a "corrupt quid pro quo bargain."
Three years ago, during Ho's confirmation process, lawmakers from both parties voiced concerns that the judge would not be able to rule impartially.
During the hearings, Ho acknowledged that he had used "overheated rhetoric" while working as a bomb-throwing legal activist for the ACLU. This included Ho describing himself as a "wild-eyed sort of leftist," telling the New York Times in a 2020 interview that there was "an anti-democratic virus that has spread in mainstream Republicanism," and attacking Republican senators on social media.
In one November 2017 post, Ho described a conversation in which a friend asked him whether he engaged in legal activism "because you want to help people or because you hate conservatives?" Ho said he was driven by both, writing, "For me, righteous indignation can provide a sense of moral clarity and motivate the long hours needed to get the work done" but is "only a short-term burst" and is "not sustaining in the long run."
Ho also retweeted posts accusing Trump of "fascism" and of "terrorizing kids" through his administration's immigration policies, according to screenshots obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
In other tweets, Ho accused Lee of trying to undermine democracy after the senator wrote that courts should make their decisions on legal precedents rather than public majority opinion.
"The mask is off," Ho responded. "Translation … [Lee is saying] if we can't maintain minoritarian rule despite the Electoral College, Senate mal-apportionment, extreme partisan gerrymandering, and strict conditions on voting, then we'll rely on a six-three SCOTUS to block any elected Democratic agenda."
Ho particularly sparred with Kennedy, who noted that Ho published insulting online posts about Republicans on the committee, including Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), and John Cornyn (Texas).
"Do you generally tweet things you don't mean?" asked Kennedy. "Um, Senator Kennedy, I would agree with you that Twitter has become a very coarse place," Ho responded.
"I don't want to debate Twitter. Do you generally tweet things that you don't mean?" Kennedy pressed. "Well, Senator Kennedy, I've contributed to the coarseness on Twitter sometimes by pushing the envelope," Ho said. "Right. Did you mean it?" asked Kennedy.
"It's hard for me to respond to that kind of generally, Senator Kennedy, without a specific example," Ho concluded.
"Sure you can," Kennedy barked. "You either meant it or you didn't. You've got two choices. Door A, door B."
Ho has sparred with Trump’s DOJ as well. In July 2019, he wrote on the ACLU website that the department was full of "keystone cops" who "couldn’t even figure out how to swap out legal teams." The remarks prompted the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), to question how "federal government officials who appear before you" could "be confident that you will be fair and impartial even when you disagree with their position."
Around the time of the hearing, Ho set his Twitter profile to private. It remains locked, meaning the posts in question are no longer available—only the pronouns "(he/him)" remain in Ho's bio. Republican lawmakers quoted from the posts at length during Ho's confirmation hearing, thus entering them into the congressional record.
Ho's confirmation hearing took place in December 2021. But Senate Democrats failed to advance his nomination to the floor until February 2023. Ho was confirmed in June of that year in a 50-49 vote, with then-senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) voting against the Biden appointee.
"Mr. Ho’s prior inflammatory statements make me doubt whether he can be impartial when interpreting the Constitution," Manchin said at the time. "Hateful words and partisanship should never be characteristics of someone on a federal bench and, for this reason, I have voted against Mr. Ho’s nomination."