Earlier on Wednesday, as Jeff reported, yet another U.S. district judge ruled against the Trump administration on deporting dangerous people in the country. This time it was to do with the deportation of the family of suspected terrorist Mohamed Soliman. On Sunday, Soliman allegedly attacked Jews participating in a "Run for Their Lives" event in Boulder, Colorado in support of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday that not only would Soliman, an illegal immigrant from Egypt who had overstayed his visa, be prosecuted, but his family would be deported. A day later, though, Judge Gordon P. Gallagher had other plans. There's more concerns about Gallagher, though, beyond Wednesday's rulings.
BREAKING: Colorado federal judge Gordon Gallagher, a Biden appointee, has issued an order blocking the Trump administration from deporting the wife and five children of Boulder terror suspect Mohamed Soliman. pic.twitter.com/Lo8R1Yp19E
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 4, 2025
Gallagher was nominated by then President Joe Biden and had previously served as a Magistrate Judge for the District Court of Colorado from 2012-2023. He was confirmed by a narrow vote of 53-43. Both of Colorado's Democratic senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, recommending his nomination and voting for Gallagher.
Like those championed by the Biden-Harris administration and the left in general, Gallagher appears to have an infinity for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). In 2019, he was a roundtable presenter on an event titled "Inclusivity, Equality, Equity, and Diversity" at the Faculty of Federal Advocates Roundtable in Denver, Colorado. He also gave a bizarrely titled Continuing Legal Education (CLE) speech in 2013, "How are Judges Like Frogs?"
These details and more are included in Gallagher's questionnaire for the Senate at the time of his nomination. As it applies to immigration, he oversaw 81 naturalization ceremonies that he oversaw. The Orange and Black Newspaper, the student newspaper for the Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, Colorado, also has comments from Gallagher in an article from March of this year about his involvement in naturalization ceremonies:
Gallagher said, “For me, the most meaningful part of being a part of the naturalization ceremony is getting to see the fruition of the hard work of these new citizens and what it means to them and their families that they have finally become a new citizen.”
Gallagher said the most common thing a new citizen will say is how arduous the process is to become a U.S. citizen and how meaningful it is to finally earn citizenship.
Gallagher wasn't merely supported by Bennet and Hickenlooper, but also by the Alliance for Justice, which has a page of Gallagher on their website. The judge is described as someone who "has dedicated his career to criminal defense work both as a private attorney and as alternate defense counsel to the public."
When it comes to Sunday's attack, many have pointed out that the targeting of Jews and supporters of Israels speaks heavily to the need for Jews to arm themselves. As innocent people were being attacked with Molotov cocktails, there appears to have been no good guy with a gun to neutralize the suspect. Colorado, however, has become an increasingly blue state and one where gun rights are not as protected as they are in many other parts of the country.
That Everytown For Gun Safety has given Colorado an increased rating by their standards should be concerning. Their 2025 rating gives Colorado the ranking of the 10th state in the country "for gun law strength." This is a jump from the 12th state the year before. Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) also in April signed legislation deemed "one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country," according to a CBS News headline no less. This comes after Polis also already signed other pro-gun control bills into law.
Where does Gallagher fit into this? Early last month, Colorado Politics highlighted how he declined to block the state's prohibition on "ghost guns."
"In a May 2 order, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon P. Gallagher declined to issue a preliminary injunction, finding the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge certain aspects of the law. Otherwise, he did not believe SB 279 even implicated the plaintiffs' Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms," the article mentioned.
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