More details emerge in Judge Feldman's conflict of interest in oil spill case

Brad Blog:


New evidence now suggests that the actions of Judge Feldman, at the very outset of the moratorium case, are particularly damning. Those new revelations support not only a case for impeachment against the Reagan-appointee who, as has also come to light, is reportedly a very close friend of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but they also reveal a lifetime appointee to the federal bench who is simply unfit to remain in office...


Worse Than Previously Known

Last Tuesday, the Louisiana federal judge rendered an astounding decision to overturn the Obama Administration's six month moratorium on deep water exploratory drilling, affecting some 30 rigs in the Gulf, even as more than three thousand production rigs would remain in full operation. Judge Feldman ruled that the moratorium, adopted in the wake of the disaster still unfolding in the Gulf, was "arbitrary" and "capricious" --- the language required for a federal judge to overturn an agency's decision under the Administrative Procedures Act. The government has said they will appeal the decision.

And there is more...
Exxon-Mobil Stock Sold on Day of Ruling

As reported Friday by Bloomberg Businessweek, on June 22 --- just last Tuesday --- the very day that he issued his extraordinary decision, Judge Feldman's stock broker, under his direction, sold off the judge's investment in shares of Exxon-Mobil. As Businessweek observed, "Exxon, who was not a party litigant in the moratorium case, nevertheless had one of the 33 rigs in the Gulf..." which would have been directly affected by Judge Feldman's decision.

In his new financial disclosure, Judge Feldman stated:

The Exxon stock…was sold at the opening of the stock market on June 22, 2010 prior to the opening of a court hearing on the Oil Spill Moratorium Case

But that statement is deceptive. Upon closer inspection, Judge Feldman's June 22 decision reveals that Hornbeck Offshore Services filed its federal lawsuit on June 7; that, on June 9, Hornbeck filed "a motion for preliminary injunction prohibiting the government from enforcing the drilling moratorium" and that Judge Feldman, ostensibly "because of the national importance of these issues, ordered an expedited hearing for June 21, 2010."