Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is furious at five Republican senators.
We should all be mad at them.
Because they didn’t show up, the Senate confirmed Judge Embry Kidd, a far-left judge in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, to the United States Circuit for the Eleventh Circuit, a lifetime appointment.
The 11th Circuit covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. It has nine district courts in those states, divided into Northern, Middle, and Southern districts.
*UPDATE 3:47 PM* Sen. Daines’ office graciously responded ASAP. They directed me to his X page. It turns out the senator had plane problems.
Outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) voted no, and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) did not vote.
DeSantis is ticked off.
Why is this bad?
Well, Kidd left off two cases on his nominee questionnaire. That’s bad enough, but his case decisions should raise red flags.
The first case is U.S. v. D’Haiti.
U.S. v. D’Haiti pertained to a case in which the defendant, a male who was a cheerleading coach at a central Florida High school, was arrested in 2022 for possession of child pornography, court records show. The defendant, in one instance, reached his hands up a minor’s sports bra and fondled her.But Kidd, according to the court records, elected in July of that year to release the defendant based on his “high character,” “ties to the community,” and “lack of criminal history.” One month later, a district judge reversed that order based on further evidence and ordered the defendant to pretrial detention.
In 2023, Vigiland D’Haiti pleaded guilty “to coercing a minor victim to produce a visual depiction of sexually-explicit content” and was sentenced to 29 years in prison.
The second case is U.S. v. King:
The second case, U.S. v. King, related to a convicted sex offender charged with receipt and possession of child sex abuse material. In April 2023, Kidd issued an order restricting only some of the defendant’s usage of the internet and devices.“All that’s been presented is that you downloaded images and that you had them on your phone, that you admitted to having them,” Kidd told the defendant. “While that does pose some danger, the danger that’s articulated is that the victims will be revictimized.”“And I think that those will be sufficient to mitigate any risk of danger that you pose,” he added.
A district judge recognized the convicted sex offender posed a danger to society:
In May 2023, a district judge revoked Kidd’s initial order releasing the defendant based on the danger he posed to the community and the “compulsion of pedophilia that he cannot control,” documents show. An FBI special agent later testified about the defendant’s attraction to a child at a restaurant, with the district judge concluding there were no conditions “that can assure the safety of the community, particularly young children.”The defendant was sentenced to roughly 24 years in prison.
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