A Judge Stands Up

Plus, finding (some) solace in history

I spent last week in London doing my best to take a break from the American news cycle. We took a guided walk of Clerkenwell, a neighborhood that’s persevered through the trials and tribulations of hundreds of years — public executions, the plague, and beautiful structures lost and damaged in the Blitz, just to name a few. I drew some comfort from the fact the world does keep spinning, despite the worst (and the worst humans) thrown at it.

The trip also offered reminders of the necessity of art, and especially political art. St. John’s Gate, pictured above, is where Shakespeare once brought his plays to receive official approval for performance. Four hundred years later, we saw the brilliant new production of his Richard II — who can deny the timeliness of studying an arrogant, erratic leader pushing beyond the law and acting without regard for the health of his nation mostly in efforts to enrich and amass power for himself? As I say on repeat, however, there’s always someone who wants to do the right thing, and at least tries to speak truth to power.

That was true (mostly!) of York in Richard II, and it’s true (fully!) of current New York federal judge Dale Ho. I’ve mentioned wanting to check in with some of the voting heroes featured in Thank You for Voting, and when I first interviewed Ho, he was an ACLU lawyer leading their voting rights work and fighting the first Trump administration’s efforts to include a citizenship question on the census.

I could do a full essay on how kind and brilliant Ho is (his description of why he chose civil rights work, included in the TYFV young reader’s edition, is proof enough), but this week I was reminded of how serious he takes being a judge who is both fair and loyal to the law.

Ho is presiding over the government’s request to dismiss corruption charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams — a dismissal request demanded by the Trump administration that had nothing to do with Adams’s guilt or innocence and everything to do with clearing any obstacles that might discourage Adams from helping enforce Trump’s mass deportation efforts. (Several career prosecutors resigned in protest.)

So the “government” and the defendant are both happy for the charges to be dropped. But Ho refused to immediately capitulate to what is a highly unusual governmental turnabout, and has appointed perhaps the best appellate lawyer of all time, conservative hero Paul Clement, to provide independent arguments on whether the Adams charges should be dropped. (Clement is also in Thank You for Voting, not as a a voting hero but instead as the guy who successfully convinced SCOTUS that partisan gerrymandering is NBD.)

Ho is an example of those being brave enough to push pause, even when a command comes down from on high. He stood up for voters time and again earlier in his career, and he’s taking time — in a way that somehow manages to defy politics while recognizing its realities — to act fairly and with measure on behalf of the public and the justice system he serves.

It shouldn’t be overlooked that Ho’s solution was a creative one. Few things are certain, but one thing is for sure: oceans of creativity will be required as we navigate a world offering no breaks between the waves.