"As the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has progressed, Americans
who hope for a successful conviction have begun to focus
their attentions on the true villain of the piece: the 75-
year-old presiding judge, Bruce Schroeder. He’s a liberal.
"Among the many accusations that have been leveled at Schroeder this week are wannabe member of the Klan, that he is the “worst judge in town,” and that he is
attempting to parlay this trial into a “gig on FOX News or OAN, or whatever.” If,
as seems eminently possible, Rittenhouse is acquitted of all the charges that
have been brought against him by the state, one suspects that a lot of the
resulting opprobrium will fall on Schroeder.
"Which would be ludicrous, because Bruce Schroeder is in fact none of the things
that his critics have proposed. Instead, he’s a liberal.
"I use that word favorably. As the Washington Post notes in a recent profile,
Schroeder is “a jurist who believes trials can be too easily manipulated,
particularly by the prosecution.” Or, as Slate’s Jeremy Stahl puts it, Schroeder
has a reputation for being “generally more favorable to defendants than many
other judges.” Why has Schroeder conducted the trial in the way that he has?
Because that is how he always conducts trials. It has nothing to do with some
preposterous wish to help Rittenhouse, or with some secret desire to defend the
Second Amendment, or with some longshot play to replace Tucker Carlson in
the 9 p.m. hour. Schroeder is a liberal on matters of criminal justice, and this is
how liberals on matters of criminal justice tend to judge." . . .
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