President Donald Trump and Judge Ana Reyes have exchanged heated arguments for months, with the former describing the latter as “crazy” when she questions his explanation for destroying public property to renovate a golf course as “more of a coincidence.” Now, a new report reveals how Reyes’ fellow judges support her — and how she uses Pac-Man to relax.
“Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the latest judge to find herself in the crosshairs of an administration that has ratcheted up tensions with the federal judiciary and targeted individual judges who have ruled against its agenda,” Bloomberg’s Suzanne Monk reported Thursday.
She later added: “The judge’s refusal to tolerate perceived missteps by the Justice Department is part and parcel of her approach on the bench, where she is known for being blunt with litigants and quick to criticize shoddy behavior in the courtroom.” »
“There’s nothing stupid about him,” Xiao Wang, a law professor at the University of Virginia who worked with Reyes in private practice, told Monk. “She’ll try to get to the point. She doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time.”
Wang added: “You cannot join the executive committee of Williams & Connolly without being a fantastic lawyer. Wang wasn’t the only one who had such positive feelings about Reyes, whom he described as a “mentor.”
“If a judge has a spark of anger at the kind of intransigence and traditional lack of respect shown to judges and that they deserve, then – what did Harry Truman say?” Paul Grimm, a retired federal judge from North Carolina, told Monk. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Monk elaborated on Reyes’ background.
“Born in Uruguay and raised in Louisville, Reyes was the first Latina and first openly gay judge on the federal trial court in Washington,” Monk wrote. “She previously spent more than two decades at Williams & Connolly, where she co-chaired the international litigation practice group and served on its executive committee. She also handled pro bono immigration matters at the firm.”
Monk added: “She keeps an arcade machine, which plays Pac-Man, in her chambers. Reyes suggested at a recent hearing in the golf course case that an Interior Department official might use it while others testify.”
Earlier this week, Reyes was particularly scathing in denouncing Trump’s behavior in pursuing lawsuits surrounding his allegedly illegal renovations of the East Potomac Golf Course.
“For months, the Court has rejected Plaintiffs’ repeated requests to restrict government activities on the East Potomac Golf Course. Time and again, it has credited the representations of government attorneys and refused to presume bad faith. The Government now seeks to disqualify the Court for bias,” Reyes wrote in chastising the administration. “This is a serious accusation. The Court is responding to it. With the file.”
Reyes continued: “Minutes after the first hearing of this litigation, the Court commended government counsel for filing ‘one of the most exceptional government briefs I have seen in my three years on the bench.’ “The writing was spectacular” and “the analysis was perfect.” Later, to the same lawyer: “(Y)ou know that I have immense respect for you. I think at every hearing I’ve said I think you’re doing a great job.'”
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