Paul Manafort’s judge T.S. Ellis doesn’t just like white collar criminals, he likes white criminals
Federal Judge T.S. Ellis handed Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort a four year prison sentence tonight, on charges that came with a nineteen to twenty-four year sentencing guideline. Manafort will die in prison anyway, thanks to the other trial he’s been convicted in, but this is nonetheless a travesty of justice. Has this guy Ellis been bought off? Is he mentally incompetent? Is he a racist? As it turns out, there’s proof of the latter.
It’s not that Judge T.S. Ellis has a soft spot for white collar criminals. It’s that he has a soft spot for white people. We can prove it. Back when Congressman William Jefferson was convicted on white collar corruption charges that were not as severe as Manafort’s crimes, this same judge T.S. Ellis sent Jefferson to prison for thirteen years. The only difference? Jefferson is black.
This is not to say that William Jefferson didn’t deserve the thirteen years he got; he was clearly guilty. But if Jefferson deserved thirteen years, then by that same logic, Paul Manafort deserved twice as much prison time, for committing crimes that were twice as severe. That’s not just our opinion; there’s a reason why the sentencing guidelines for Manafort’s crimes stretch as high as 24 years. Yet Ellis gave Manafort less than one-third as much time as he gave to Jefferson.
So yeah, Judge T.S. Ellis likes to put black white-collar criminals in prison for a lot longer than he likes to put white white-collar criminals in prison. That’s before getting to the extraordinarily harsh sentences Ellis has handed black criminals on drug convictions. This judge is a racist, and he needs to be impeached before he can do any more damage to the justice system.
