The judge who ruled Tuesday to block the Trump administration’s reorganization and cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was touted by President Joe Biden for her race and LGBTQ status and has a record suggesting she is unqualified and fixated on racial redress.
Judge Melissa DuBose was appointed by Biden in 2024 after being recommended by Democrat Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Jack Reed (RI) and confirmed 51-47 after Republicans Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lindsay Graham (SC) voted with Democrats.
Whitehouse and Reed’s press release announcing the recommendation noted that DuBose “would become the first person of color and first openly LGBTQ judge to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.”
During her confirmation, DuBose stated she was “not aware of any U.S. Supreme Court or First Circuit precedent establishing the legal basis for a nationwide injunction.” While technically not nationwide, her recent preliminary injunction was brought by a coalition of attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia.
The record revealed in her confirmation process troubled many Senators.
Dubose admitted to having a “Marxist phase” in an 2000 interview with the Feminist Press that she did not provide in her Senate questionnaire.
According to that questionnaire, DuBose was a member of the National Consortium for Racial and Ethnic Fairness (2021-2024), where she wrote at least 11 Quarterly Reports for the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts, as well as “An Open Letter to the people of Rhode Island.”
She also was a member of the Rhode Island Committee on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts and served as the Public Engagement Committee Chair (2020-2024). According to questions for the record, the committee “mandated a training for all Judiciary personnel, which included a program on ‘implicit bias and its effect.’”
Dubose participated in a March 2023 panel titled “EmPower Meet Up for Educators of Color” and a January 2023 panel titled “DEI Work in the Courtroom.”
Her partisan loyalty was revealed in the hearing as well.
During her confirmation hearing, DuBose ended her remarks to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) by stating “I am a proud Democrat,” later claiming it was “in reference to [her] strong support for our democratic system of government.”
DuBose was the first person of color and first openly LGBTQ judge to serve on the Rhode Island District Court, which appears to have been a factor in her latest appointment. Biden highlighted diversity in announcing DuBose’s nomination: “These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.”
The Alliance for Justice, which supported her nomination, concurred that diversity was a contributing factor, highlighting that DuBose’s nomination was “to Remedy Two All-White Districts.”
More from her record and background suggests a hyper focus on racial issues as well as an affinity for alleged criminals.
A 2022 profile from Providence College, “Raised off Hope: The story of Judge Melissa DuBose ‘90”, said that “In addition to hearing cases, DuBose works diligently to achieve just processes and outcomes for all court users. (She prefers “court users” to terms like ‘defendant’ and ‘plaintiff.’)” It continued, “She sits on the court’s Committee for Racial and Ethnic Fairness, which was born out of the tumultuous and tragic summer of 2020 to identify systemic racism in judicial institutions and processes.”
The glowing profile even praised her for exchanging letters with a former student who had committed a gang-related murder.
In April 2024, DuBose served as the keynote speaker at the University of Rhode Island’s Women of Color Conference. During her investiture ceremony, DuBose stated, “We need to protect the democracy – and we’re the last stand.”
Dubose’s HHS ruling is not her first to attract controversy.
In April 2025, DuBose ruled against Republican Maine state lawmaker Rep. Laurel Libby, who sought a preliminary injunction after she was censured for a social media post about a man participating in a women’s sport. And in May 2025, DuBose ruled that immigration officials could not deport a Tren de Aragua gang member because he was not given 72 hours’ notice.
She also dismissed a lawsuit brought by a white couple challenging Rhode Island’s marijuana ‘social equity provisions’ under which they said they were denied a cannabis retail permit.
DuBose donated $75 to Democratic Mayor of Providence Angel Taveras in 2014, and $50 to Rhode Island Attorney General Democratic candidate Joseph Fernandez in 2010.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
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