NYT Judge Ellis profile

Judge Ellis, 78, is the formidable ringmaster of the greatest show in the United States District Court in Alexandria, Va., demanding both precise questioning and a breakneck pace in the trial of Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman.

He has routinely broken in on questioning, limited admission of evidence and exhorted lawyers to “expedite” — all the while entertaining spectators with humorous asides about his age, his wife, his Navy past, his lack of an email address, the jury’s lunch menu, split infinitives and the noise produced by a machine intended to keep bench conferences from being overheard (like “the sound of waves crashing”).

  NYT

If he wants the pace to pick up, maybe he could dispense with the humorous asides.

I can't remember where I read it, or who said it*, but I do recall reading a comment somewhere (most likely Twitter) by an attorney around the time the trial began who said in his experience Judge Ellis was vocally harsh but in the end judged fairly. The only problem with that is this is a jury trial.

Mr. Manafort’s lawyers have stayed out of firing range so far, but their turn could come when the defense starts putting on its own witnesses. Judge Ellis has a reputation for being harder on the defense than on the prosecution.

Judge Ellis is just an old asshole, isn't he?

To his admirers, Judge Ellis’s bluntness and impatience are indicative of a razor-sharp mind. He has degrees from Princeton, Harvard and Oxford.

Razor sharp minds don't have to be arrogant attention hounds.

[S]ome lawyers question whether he is so controlling that he unfairly restricts how both defenders and prosecutors can operate. He loves the law, some lawyers who have been before him say sardonically, almost as much as he loves himself.

[...]

Whatever criticism he has faced does not seem to have fazed Judge Ellis at all in his conduct of Mr. Manafort’s trial.

[...]

“I am a Caesar in my own Rome,” he said at one point, discussing why he refused to allow defendants to plead no contest instead of guilty. “It’s a pretty small Rome,” he added.

[...]

To the jurors, the judge could not be more solicitous, joking about the plain lunch menu (“You won’t find baked alaska”). At least the meal is free, he told the jurors on opening day, saying he hoped no one had a fleeting urge to “slit their wrists” because they had been unfortunate enough to be picked from the jury pool.

Did he know for a certainty that no juror had - or had a close relative or friend who had - made an attempted suicide by that method? I'm sure he didn't. Unbelievable thoughtlessness.

He has clearly reveled in his captive audience. “My hearing is not what it once was,” he said last week, pausing for a beat with comic effect. “Nothing is what it once was.” Born in Bogotá, Colombia, he took the opportunity during a sentencing to display his fluency in Spanish, questioning the defendant himself while an interpreter stood by.

He religiously avoids mingling with lawyers from either side, even in social settings. Even United States attorneys are not allowed in his chambers.

[...]

Even if the spectators had come only for the Manafort case, he said, he was glad they got a chance to see the criminal justice system at work. He has weighed in on a variety of issues outside the courtroom, criticizing conditions at a Virginia prison and questioning whether sentencing laws are too harsh.

Doesn't seem like the type to care.

“Judges should be patient — they made a mistake when they confirmed me,” he said to Mr. Andres on Wednesday. “I’m not patient. So don’t try my patience.”

What an interesting observation.

“I’m never patient, but you must be,” Judge Ellis warned the prosecutor last week.

“No comment,” Mr. Andres said.

“That was a comment,” the judge said. “I have a long memory.”

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

*It may have been attorney Renato Mariotti.  Check out this thread.