American Family Association Action (AFA Action), is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to advancing biblical, family values in society and government by educating and influencing public policy. AFA Action is also the Governmental Affairs Affiliate of American Family Association (AFA).
Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
This prospect is designated as a red list candidate. The purpose of the “red list” designation is not to denigrate a prospect but rather to explain that serious concerns make them untenable given the availability of “green list” prospects that do meet the exceedingly high standard necessary for Supreme Court prospects.
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According to a 2020 New York Times article, Judge Walker grew up in a Democrat household.[1]
Walker attended St. Xavier High School, an all-boys Catholic school.[2] He also interned for Senator Mitch McConnell during college.[3] After college, Walker campaigned for President George W. Bush’s reelection.[4] Justice Elena Kagan recommended Justin Walker to clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.[5]
In 2004, Walker identified as a “tax-cutting, Iraq-invading Republican.”[6] A friend and former colleague detailed Judge Walker’s Catholic background and call to serve, stating that, “Justin’s desire to serve others stems directly from his deeply rooted Catholic beliefs.”[7]
Walker is married to Anne Walker and they have one child.[8]
[1] Elizabeth Williamson & Rebecca R. Ruiz, McConnell Protégé Takes Center Stage in Fight to Remake Judiciary, New York Times (May 5, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/us/politics/justin-walker-mcconnell-judicial-nomination.html.
[2]Walker Confirmed as Federal Judge for Western District of Kentucky, The Lane Report (Oct. 29, 2019), https://www.lanereport.com/118514/2019/10/dinsmore-partner-confirmed-as-federal-judge/.
[3] Cristian Farias, How Trump Changed a Young Judge’s Life, The Atlantic, (Oct. 27, 2020) https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/how-conservative-judge-justin-walkers-career-was-made/616830/.
[4] Cristian Farias, How Trump Changed a Young Judge’s Life, The Atlantic, (Oct. 27, 2020) https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/how-conservative-judge-justin-walkers-career-was-made/616830/.
[5] Supreme Court expert & Brandeis Law professor weighs in on Trump's nominee, Univ. of Louisville Brandeis School of L., https://louisville.edu/law/news/supreme-court-expert-and-brandeis-law-professor-weighs-in-on-trumps-nominee.
[6] Student Blogs Way Through Presidential Primaries, Wave 3 (Mar. 2, 2004), https://www.wave3.com/story/1682945/student-blogs-way-through-presidential-primaries/.
[7] Thomas M. Johnson, Jr., Faith, Family, & Judge Justin Walker, National Rev. (Apr. 27, 2020), https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/faith-family-and-judge-justin-walker/.
[8] Paul Hitchcock, Majority Leader McConnell Introduces Kentuckian at Judicial Nomination Hearing, Morehead State Public Radio (July 31, 2019), https://www.wmky.org/government-politics/2019-07-31/majority-leader-mcconnell-introduces-kentuckian-at-judicial-nomination-hearing.
Judge Walker has routinely expressed his commitment to the separation of powers.
In response to a question from Senator Feinstein, Walker stated, “I communicated a principle that is at the heart of an independent judiciary: the law should not be political. This is a separation-of-powers principle. It is why under our Constitution, judges decide ‘cases and controversies,’ while Congress, not the judiciary, is vested with the ‘legislative powers herein granted.’”[9]
When Senator Booker asked Walker, “[d]o you believe that judicial restraint is an important value for a district judge to consider in deciding a case?” Walker responded, “Every case that comes before a judge requires the judge to remember and respect the limited role of the judiciary in our constitutional structure.”[10]
Walker identifies as an originalist. He has stated, “I don’t in any way run away from the label of being an originalist…I absolutely am unabashed in my belief that a judge must look at the original meaning of text.”[11]
[9] S. Questions for Answer, p. 1. Questions from Senator Feinstein, Question #2a (emphasis added).
[10] S. Questions for Answer, p. 8-9. Questions from Senator Booker, Question #9 (emphasis added).
[11] U.S. Court of Appeals: D.C. Circuit Confirmation Hearing, C-Span (May 6, 2020), https://www.c-span.org/video/?471829-1/us-court-appeals-dc-circuit-confirmation-hearing at 1:49:20 (emphasis added).
In On Fire Christian Center v. Fischer, Walker boldly ruled in favor of the right of people of faith to attend a drive-in church gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walker held that the court cannot dictate what is “essential” in the practice of one’s faith. He opined, “Louisville might suggest that On Fire members could participate in an online service and thus satisfy their longing for communal celebration. But some members may not have access to online resources. And even if they all did, the Free Exercise Clause protects their right to worship as their conscience commands them. It is not the role of a court to tell religious believers what is and isn’t important to their religion, so long as their belief in the religious importance is sincere. The Free Exercise clause protects sincerely held religious beliefs that are at times not “acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others.”[12]
[12] On Fire Christian Ctr. v. Fischer, 453 F.Supp.3d 901, 911 (W.D. Ky. 2020), https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3:2020cv00264/116558/6/0.pdf?ts=1586683012, at PDF p. 13 (emphasis added).
Judge Walker has held that the government cannot force a Christian wedding photographer to photograph a same-sex wedding.
In Chelsey Nelson Photography v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, a Christian wedding photographer challenged Louisville, Kentucky’s “Fairness Ordinance,” which “prohibit[ed] discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public accommodations, and employment … and require[d] that companies serve gay and lesbian customers and refrain from advertising that they won’t serve them.”[13] Walker issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the city from using the ordinance to force the plaintiff to provide services to homosexual weddings or prevent her from posting explanations of her views on her website.[14]
Walker boldly stated, “Just as gay and lesbian Americans ‘cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth,’ neither can Americans ‘with a deep faith that requires them to do things passing legislative majorities might find unseemly or uncouth.’ ‘They are members of the community too.’ And under our Constitution, the government can’t force them to march for, or salute in favor of, or create an artistic expression that celebrates, a marriage that their conscience doesn’t condone.” [15]
[13] Chelsey Nelson Photography v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, 479 F.Supp.3d (W.D. Ky. 2020), https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3:2019cv00851/114724/47/0.pdf?ts=1597483309, at PDF p. 3.
[14] Chelsey Nelson Photography v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, 479 F.Supp.3d (W.D. Ky. 2020), https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3:2019cv00851/114724/47/0.pdf?ts=1597483309.
[15] Chelsey Nelson Photography v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, 479 F.Supp.3d (W.D. Ky. 2020), https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3:2019cv00851/114724/47/0.pdf?ts=1597483309, at PDF p. 4-5 (emphasis added).
Walker is critical of the government forcing businesses to purchase abortifacient drugs. In a case unrelated to abortion, Walker’s opinion stated, “In recent years, an expanding government has made the Free Exercise Clause more important than ever. It was not long ago, for example, that the government told the Supreme Court it can prohibit a church from choosing its own minister; force religious business owners to buy pharmaceuticals they consider abortion-inducing; and conscript nuns to provide birth control.”[16]
[16] On Fire Christian Ctr. v. Fischer, 453 F.Supp.3d 901 (2020), https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/3:2020cv00264/116558/6/0.pdf?ts=1586683012, at PDF p. 6 (emphasis added).
Judge Walker pledged to incorrectly refer to a transgender litigant by pronouns that do not accord with their biological sex. When asked by Senator Booker in the Senate Questions for Answer whether Walker would “honor the request of a plaintiff, defendant, or witness … who is transgender to be referred to in accordance with that person’s gender identity, Walker replied, “yes.”[17]
[17] S. Questions for Answer, p. 12. Questions from Senator Booker. Question #14.
Judge Walker would have granted a petition for rehearing in Guedes v. ATF, the case in which plaintiffs lost a challenge to the ATF’s rule classifying bump stocks as “machine guns.” Judge Walker stated in dissent that the ATF’s “overreach is troubling because it turns law-abiding Americans into criminals” and that the ATF relied “on a misguided reading of an old statute” that did not authorize it to ban bump stocks.[18]
[18] Guedes v. ATF, 66 F.4th 1018 (D.C. Cir. 2023), https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/526C50B487671B80852589A3004E4770/$file/21-5045-1997449.pdf, at PDF p. 11 (emphasis added).
In a symposium discussion, Walker properly critiqued the “billions of taxpayer dollars” spent on providing the state constitutional mandate of “a minimum level of funding to offer an adequate education for all students.”[19]
[19] Justin Walker, “Less Liberty?,” (Apr. 13, 2019), https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Less-Liberty.pdf, at PDF p. 5.
Walker has been critical of the administrative state and forecasted that the Supreme Court would reign it in from its current power. Walker spoke negatively about the administrative state in his article The Kavanaugh Court and the Schechter-to-Chevron Spectrum: How the New Supreme Court Will Make the Administrative State More Democratically Accountable, stating “[F]ederal administrative agencies promulgate 80,000 pages of regulations—which makes an eleven-foot paper pillar.” He continued, “Rather than elected representatives, unelected bureaucrats increasingly make the vast majority of the nation’s laws—a trend facilitated by the Supreme Court’s decision in three areas: delegation, deference, and independence.”[20]
[20] Justin Walker, The Kavanaugh Court and the Schechter-to-Chevron Spectrum: How the New Supreme Court Will Make the Administrative State More Democratically Accountable, Indiana L. J. 923, 923 (2020), https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11381&context=ilj (emphasis added).
Walker was a fierce supporter of Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination and has compared Justice Kavanaugh to Saint Paul.[21]
Walker has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2006.[22]
Judge Justin Walker and his wife have long-term involvement in a concerning non-profit organization. Judge Walker is on the Board of Directors[23] and previously worked as Executive Director[24] and legal counsel 2013 to at least 2019 of a concerning secular “nonprofit for underserved school children”[25] called Global Game Changers Children’s Education Initiative (GGC). Walker’s wife, Anne, was and remains the Chief Program and Curriculum Officer of GCC.”[26]
According to Anne Walker’s LinkedIn profile, she served as a volunteer to radical, leftist Democrat Deval Patrick’s campaign for Massachusetts governor from September through November 2006.[27] She then served as a legislative aide in the Office of Governor Patrick from January 2007 through June 2009.[28] Her duties as an aide entailed, “researching bills, drafting briefs, and working with the state legislature.”[29]
Anne Walker is the author of a questionable novel called “The Booby Trap.” The book’s Amazon page describes the storyline as the following: “The Booby Trap is a seedy bar where waitresses skirts are high, necklines are low, and customers show up for the eye candy.”[30]
[21] Cristian Farias, How Trump Changed a Young Judge’s Life, The Atlantic, (Oct. 27, 2020) https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/how-conservative-judge-justin-walkers-career-was-made/616830/.
[22] S. Questionnaire p. 3. Link here.
[23] GGC Board, Global Game Changers, https://globalgamechangers.org/ggcboard/.
[24] S. Questionnaire p. 4; 49. Link here. See also Global Game Changers/YMCA of Greater Louisville/Muhammad Ali Center Interview "Heart of Gold" Series, Global Game Changers Student Empowerment Program, YouTube (June 10, 2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsJRCukGZYs, at 8:52.
[25] Thomas M. Johnson, Jr., Faith, Family, & Judge Justin Walker, National R. (Apr. 27, 2020), https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/faith-family-and-judge-justin-walker/; GGC Team, Global Game Changers, https://globalgamechangers.org/ggc-team/.
[26] Thomas M. Johnson, Jr., Faith, Family, & Judge Justin Walker, National R. (Apr. 27, 2020), https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/faith-family-and-judge-justin-walker/; GGC Team, Global Game Changers, https://globalgamechangers.org/ggc-team/.
[27] Anne Walker, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-walker-09932444/.
[28] Anne Walker, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-walker-09932444/.
[29] Anne Walker, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-walker-09932444/.
[30] The Booby Trap, Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Booby-Trap-Anne-Browning-Walker/dp/1938511018.
Walker upheld the First Amendment rights of two federal government employees to engage in political activism outside of their employment. In Guffey v. Mauskopf, Judge Walker wrote an opinion invalidating employee political speech restrictions imposed by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.[31] He explained that “the government cannot condition public employment on the complete surrender of a citizen’s First Amendment rights.”[32]
Walker is a harsh critic of FBI independence. He believes that the FBI’s independence has facilitated violations of civil liberties. He published an article in which he “chronicles the history of civilian control of the military as well as abuses committed by the FBI, noting that the agency engaged in ‘illegal and warrantless wiretaps, buggings, burglaries, destruction of files, and harassment of political minorities, the gay community, and African Americans.’”[33]
Lastly, Walker authored an opinion upholding a COVID-19 related CDC order prohibiting the entry of “covered aliens” into the U.S. by land through Mexico or Canada, and validating the order’s direction for immediate expulsion of such aliens. But Walker also held that such covered aliens could not be removed to countries in which they would be persecuted or tortured.[34]
[31] Guffey v. Mauskopf, 45 F.4th 442 (D.C. Cir. 2022), https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/331C233525FD797B852588A000517549/$file/20-5183-1959466.pdf.
[32] Guffey v. Mauskopf, 45 F.4th 442 (D.C. Cir. 2022), https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/331C233525FD797B852588A000517549/$file/20-5183-1959466.pdf, at PDF p. 6 (emphasis added).
[33] Justin Walker, FBI Independence as a Threat to Civil Liberties: An Analogy to Civilian Control of the Military, 86 George Washington L. Rev. 1011, 1041 (2018), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3122728# (emphasis added).
[34] Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas, 27 F.4th 718 (D.C. Cir. 2022), https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/huisha-v-mayorkas-opinion-usdc-dc.pdf.
Best meets the ten principles of a constitutional judge.
Rating: GreyNeutral. Record is not as fully developed. Cannot be rated as “green” or “red.”
Rating: RedFails to meet the ten principles of a constitutional judge.
AFA Action is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to advancing biblical, family values in society and government by educating and influencing public policy. AFA Action is also the Governmental Affairs Affiliate of American Family Association.