New York: Arun Subramanian, an Indian-American judge, is facing racial abuse for issuing an order that temporarily blocked the Donald Trump administration from freezing $10 billion funding meant for childcare and family support programmes in five Democratic-ruled states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. Even billionaire Elon Musk called him "problematic" for his ruling.
Subramanian, a judge at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, granted an injunction to halt the funding freeze after the five states moved the court, arguing that the federal government lacked the authority to withhold the funds without following proper legal and procedural requirements.
Hailing Subramanian's decision as a "victory", New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “This decision is a critical victory for families whose lives have been upended by this administration’s cruelty. From childcare to shelter services for survivors of domestic violence, these funds provide resources that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers depend on."
She added, "This illegal funding freeze should have never happened, and I will keep fighting to uphold the law and protect funding that our communities need."
On the other hand, the ruling also triggered a huge backlash against the judge, with several netizens targeting him over his Indian-American background.
A post attacking Subramanian’s decision went viral on X, accusing him of forcing the government to release taxpayers' money to “fraudulent” daycare centres. The tweet further read, "So this judge issued an injunction forcing the waste of taxpayer money in a case he knows the states won’t actually win on the merits." World's richest person Elon Musk supported the post and reposted it with a one-word tweet reading, "Problematic".
An X user launched a racial attack on Subramanian, saying, “Why is this ”so called" Judge in this country making judicial decisions. Sorry not sorry. He isn't an American!"
Another racial comment read, "'Arun Subramanian' that name tells me all I need to know about this ‘judge’. He's probably in on it, too." An X user asked, "Why does America have a federal judge named Arun Subramanian?"
American social media users also called him a "foreigner", with one saying, "We saw what the judge looks like…makes sense now." Others also called for his deportation to India.
Arun Srinivas Subramanian was born in 1979 in Pennsylvania to Indian immigrant parents. He is an alumnus of Case Western Reserve University and Columbia Law School. Subramanian, who earlier worked at law firm Susman Godfrey LLP, is the first South Asian judge to be appointed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Notably, Subramanian is the judge who sentenced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs to four years in prison for prostitution-related charges involving his two ex-girlfriends.
