Marietta Daily Journal
August 26, 2015

OPINION

D.A. King
columnist

Readers may have heard by now that President Barack Obama has nominated a DeKalb County State Court Judge, Dax Lopez, for the lifetime position as a federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia.

Pro-enforcement conservatives among our Republican friends should pay close attention to this process. They might even want to speak up against confirming Lopez. But, warning: Dax Lopez says he is a Republican, so there is that whole GOP “eleventh commandment” silliness to consider. And he is also originally from Puerto Rico, which of course creates the element of “Hispanic outreach,” “big tent,” “we don’t want to be called names” to deal with for those who may consider forming a committee to discuss future public objection to his confirmation.

As someone who has actively fought the vast, corporate-funded illegal alien lobby in Georgia for more than a decade, let me be as clear as possible: Dax Lopez should never become a federal judge because he has served on the board of directors of the anti-immigration enforcement and extremely liberal Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials  (GALEO) since 2004.

Obama’s first pick for the seat was a widely respected conservative south Georgia Democrat and former state legislator named Michael Boggs. It may serve as some encouragement to voicing objection to Lopez for loyal and obedient GOPers to know that the Democrats killed any chance of Boggs becoming a federal judge on the grounds that he was too conservative.

Boggs’ confirmation was blocked by fellow Democrats because of his views on homosexual marriage, the right-to-life battle and the Confederate battle flag.

“He’s a person who’s not, in my opinion, in the mainstream, and I don’t think he deserves to be a federal judge,” then U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said of Boggs last May.

Curious conservatives should also have this nugget of knowledge on how our government works from the liberal Talking Points Memo news website: “When a judge is nominated, the Judiciary Committee sends a ‘blue slip’ to home state senators seeking their approval. If they sign off, the committee moves forward with the nomination. If one or both of them disapproves or withholds the blue slip, the nomination tends to grind to a halt.”

For Obama-voter readers, this means that either or both of Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senators could end the consideration of pro-amnesty GALEO’s board member for federal judge tomorrow.

They could also remain silent on Lopez and his long-time, faithful affiliation with the open borders radicals led by Jerry Gonzalez, who boast of Jane Fonda being a “Founding Friend.” But wouldn’t it be refreshing to see Republicans actually take a stand and make it publicly clear that the time to stop anti-enforcement activist federal judges is before they are even considered for becoming federal judges?

When not viciously attacking local law enforcement for helping to enforce immigration laws and organizing massive bus trips from Georgia to Washington D.C. to lobby for another amnesty for undocumented Democrats, GALEO has proudly lobbied against local law enforcement honoring requests from federal immigration authorities to hold illegal aliens for investigation.

We hope that readers — and U.S. Senators — still remember Kate Steinle, one of the thousands of Americans killed because of this exact anti-enforcement policy. And we remind all concerned that transporting illegal aliens — including in buses to Washington — is a federal crime.

Imagine for a moment — because sadly, it is possible — that GALEO’s Lopez, age 40, were to be confirmed as a federal judge in Georgia for the rest of his life.

Look down the road to the possibility of a case referred to Lopez’s court against enforcement of immigration laws similar to the lawsuit against Georgia’s 2011 HB 87 from the ACLU and the SPLC on which GALEO acted as a “friend” by filing an “amicus brief.” Does Federal Judge Lopez recuse himself because of his affiliation with the anti-enforcement plaintiffs?

Does he recuse himself for all immigration enforcement cases? Does he resign from the board of GALEO? If so, when — then, or now, or as a condition of his confirmation?

We made it clear that Lopez says he is a Republican. When he ran for election in 2012, he was supported and endorsed by Democrats Jason Carter and Roy Barnes. He should be described as “a Jerry Gonzalez, Jason Carter, Roy Barnes Republican.”

Neither Lopez nor GALEO should be considered “in the mainstream” by our Republican senators and Dax Lopez does not deserve to be a federal judge.

D.A. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society and has assisted state legislators with passage of many Georgia laws aimed at illegal immigration. Info on the Lopez nomination can be seen on King’s MDJ blog.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Georgia senators should block Lopez s path