Todd Butler, President Trump's nominee to the Fifth Circuit, is facing scrutiny over briefs he filed in the Supreme Court case Olivier v. City of Brandon. The case involved technical questions about when Heck v. Humphrey bars civil rights claims, but Butler's filings went beyond the legal issues to disparage the plaintiff, a street preacher named Gabe Olivier. Butler's briefs put "Christian" in scare quotes and compared the preacher's group's conduct to "domestic terrorism," citing incidents involving other people at different locations.
Olivier's reply brief, filed by Gibson Dunn and First Liberty, pushed back sharply, quoting West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette for the principle that "no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in religion." The reply argued that the city's rhetoric was unsupported and that Olivier's peaceful expression was being unfairly equated with terrorism.
The Reason article notes that Butler's attacks were not necessary to resolve the legal questions presented. Critics argue that a judge should not use court filings to vilify a litigant's faith, and the episode raises concerns about Butler's temperament and impartiality on the bench. The source does not include any response from Butler or his supporters, so only the criticism is reported here.