In my Impromptus today, I have a smorgasbord of notes, as usual — about tariffs, language, music, and so on. If you’re so disposed, give it a whirl, here.

I would like to add something about two judges — two Reaganites, who have stood tall in recent times. (Tall in my eyes, at least.)

With some regularity, people tell me, “Your day is over, Gramps.” (I paraphrase.) “You don’t know what time it is.” Oh, I do — I may not like the time, but I certainly know what time it is. I read the papers. Sometimes contribute to them.

The Reaganites are thinning out, obviously, but Royce C. Lamberth is still kicking, and so is J. Harvie Wilkinson. The former was appointed in 1987, the latter in 1984. They work on different courts. Lamberth is a senior judge of the district court in D.C. Wilkinson is on the Fourth Circuit, which is based in Richmond.

Each man is a “conservative’s conservative,” a real constitutionalist.

I wrote about Lamberth in a post last year. He had written some notes, in resentencing a January 6 defendant. Said the judge,

The Court is accustomed to defendants who refuse to accept that they did anything wrong. But in my thirty-seven years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream. I have been dismayed to see distortions and outright falsehoods seep into the public consciousness. I have been shocked to watch some public figures try to rewrite history, claiming rioters behaved “in an orderly fashion” like ordinary tourists, or martyrizing convicted January 6 defendants as “political prisoners” or even, incredibly, “hostages.” That is all preposterous. But the Court fears that such destructive, misguided rhetoric could presage further danger to our country.

Yes.

Lamberth went on to say,

The rioters interfered with a necessary step in the constitutional process, disrupted the lawful transfer of power, and thus jeopardized the American constitutional order. Although the rioters failed in their ultimate goal, their actions nonetheless resulted in the deaths of multiple people, injury to over 140 members of law enforcement, and lasting trauma for our entire nation. This was not patriotism; it was the antithesis of patriotism.

Indeed.

President Trump called them “patriots” and “political prisoners.” After October 7, 2023, he called them, as Lamberth noted, “hostages.” (Because there were hostages in Gaza, you see.) On the day he was inaugurated a second time, he sprang them — all 1,600 or so. He pardoned them or commuted their sentences.

Now he proposes to pay them. (“Trump says compensation fund being discussed for pardoned Jan. 6 rioters.”)

Judge Lamberth concluded his notes as follows:

The Court does not expect its remarks to fully stem the tide of falsehoods. But I hope a little truth will go a long way.

As for Judge Wilkinson, he penned an order yesterday — an order concerning one of our deportees to Nayib Bukele’s prison system in El Salvador:

It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. . . .

This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.

I started my political life (so to speak) as a Reaganite. I remain one, essentially. For those interested, I wrote an essay titled “A Political Testimony,” published last November, on Election Day: here.

Judge Lamberth is 81, Judge Wilkinson, 80. I have to say, the stands they have taken make me rather proud. True to the last, these men are. (And they aren’t done yet.) May they have heirs.