CANON 2: A JUDGE SHOULD AVOID IMPROPRIETY AND THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY IN ALL ACTIVITIES
Respect for Law. A judge should respect and comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
Outside Influence. A judge should not allow family, social, political, financial, or other relationships to influence judicial conduct or judgment. A judge should neither lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others nor convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge. A judge should not testify voluntarily as a character witness.
Nondiscriminatory Membership. A judge should not hold membership in any organization that practices invidious discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin.
Regarding Canon 2B, Goldsmith has or recently had demonstrable family and financial ties to Israel. It may be, too, that his social relationships unsuit him to preside at this trial. In the nominee’s questionnaire Goldsmith submitted to the judiciary committee, he discloses that he became Vice-President for Religious Affairs of B’nai B’rith Barristers in 2009. “Advocacy for Israel“ is second on B’nai B’rith’s list of “Our Prime Issues”. B’nai B’rith has publicly “condemned” supporters of the international boycott of Israel, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Furthermore, Goldsmith has been a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee since the the 1990s.
Goldsmith is also evidently a “strictly Sabbath observant,” devout adherent of Judaism; he is a cantor at his synagogue and a serious student of the Talmud. Goldsmith was profiledin 2011 in “Jewels of Justice: Timeless Jewish Values in the American Courtroom” in the American Jewish Spirit (emphasis added). Reportedly, at his federal investiture ceremony, “the newly appointed judge said ‘he was grateful to the Almighty for allowing my plan to be part of His plan,’ and in the words of an ancient Jewish prayer, thanked God for ‘granting us all life, sustaining us and allowing us to reach this day.’ … ‘I do believe with a complete faith, Judge Goldsmith said, ‘that the Spirit above guides the spirit within.’ “
Being devoutly religious should not per se be a disqualifying factor but one wonders how the “Spirit above” will guide Goldsmith’s “spirit within” when it comes to Coleman v. AATA. In his nominee’s questionnaire Goldsmith reports that he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit. He’s been a member of Congregation Beth Shalom since 1987; he joined its Board of Directors that same year and served until 2005. He was the president of the congregation from 1997 until 1999. Congregation Beth Shalom describes itself as providing “opportunities for all ages that nurture our love of and commitment to Jewish life, our Synagogue and the State of Israel” and it hosts an“Israel Affairs” committee. There can be little doubt that the Congregation Beth Shalom agrees thatZionism is an affirmation of Judaismand “has its origins and roots in the authoritative religious texts of Judaism. … Anti-Zionism, not Zionism, is a departure from the Jewish religion.”
Regarding Canon 2c, Goldsmith’s service (1986-1994) on the “Regional Advisory Board of B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League” (ADL), which was highlighted in his Senate confirmation hearing, sets off alarm bells. The ADL is decidedly andundeniably pro-Israel and that to the detriment of Palestinians. A case can be made that it “practices invidious discrimination” (although probably not in its membership) against non-Jewish people and Jews who are not Zionist (or insufficiently so).
In 2000, a Colorado jury awarded a$10 million judgment against the ADL to two people who had been defamed as “anti-Semites” by the ADL. That award survived all appeals. Earlier, in 1999, the ADL was forced to pay $175,000 in an out-of-court settlement stemming from forty years of domestic political espionage by the ADL. The ADL has been active in lobbying against Congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide. This had led some Massachusetts communities to pull outof the ADL’s bogus “No Place for Hate” campaign. Interested readers are urged to have a look at Professor Steven Salaita’s book, Israel’s Dead Soul. Salaita devotes an entire chapter to the ADL where he makes a compelling case that “according to its own public criteria, the ADL should classify itself as a hate group.”
In light of all of the above, should Goldsmith recuse himself? You decide. Canon 3C(1) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges says: “A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned …”