Trump Judicial Nominee Howard Nielson: Gay Judges Shouldn't Hear LGBT Cases

One of President Donald Trump’s newest judicial nominees says he believes gay judges shouldn’t hear cases involving issues that affect the LGBT community.

A report by Alliance for Justice found that Howard Nielson was representing the plaintiffs in Hollingsworth v. Perry, a 2013 case that would have banned same-sex marriage in California. As the case played out, Nielson filed a motion saying chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Vaughn Walker “had a duty to disclose not only the facts concerning his [same-sex] relationship, but also his marriage intentions.”

According to the organization, Nielson said it was “extremely problematic that Judge Walker is a practicing homosexual himself.”

Since the case was about same-sex marriage, Nielson argued that Walker, a Ronald Reagan appointee, could not be unbiased unless he did not intend to marry another man. He wrote that only if Walker had “unequivocally disavowed any interest in marrying his partner could the parties and the public be confident that he did not have a direct personal interest in the outcome," the Alliance cited.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2018/01/howard-nielson/