They wanted solitary for J6 defendants. Now they're mad a judge said sorry

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui apologized to Cole Tomas Allen at a hearing Monday. Allen is accused of trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. He was placed in effectively solitary confinement, held for long periods in a padded cell, denied phone access, denied visits, denied a Bible. Judge Faruqui said the conditions appeared punitive and not tied to any medical assessment. She said the treatment was harsher than what some January 6th defendants received.

That last part is doing a lot of work. The same political coalition that cheered prolonged pretrial detention for J6 defendants, that called it justice, that mocked anyone who raised due process concerns, is now furious that a judge looked at these conditions and said this isn't right. Jeanine Pirro and Kari Lake didn't suddenly develop a constitutional philosophy. They're mad because the apology implies a standard. And a standard applied consistently is the one thing they can't afford.

Pretrial detention is supposed to be non-punitive. That's not a left-wing position. That's the law. A padded cell, no Bible, no phone, no visits, no medical basis — a federal magistrate called that out. The outrage from Trump allies isn't about Cole Allen. It's about the fact that someone in a robe said the quiet part: we were doing it wrong before too.