The judge was a Bush appointee and had actually recently made a couple of controversial (because they were conservative) rulings regarding immigration.
However, he wasn’t expected to be there and had simply stopped by the Safeway to go shopping after morning mass. He knew the Congresswoman (who herself was pretty conservative for a Dem) and just walked over spontaneously to greet her.
Thanks for the info. I have been refreshing my mind on so many posts we have had for the past twenty four hours.