Surely, you can deduce the reason.
It is to paint the judge as a "racist", of course.
Note also the insertion that the judge is, himself, the son of Irish and Italian immigrants -- as if that was somehow relevant.
A nifty little smear job, authored by the "drive by media".
You pegged that very well. They even mentioned that the judge "leaves work" at 12 every day for mass.
The real story is that he uses his lunch hours to attend mass.