Hope. Change. Jihad.

Iyman Faris, 49, was sentenced in 2003 for aiding and abetting al-Qaida by scoping out the iconic New York bridge as a part of a plot to cut through the cables supporting the structure. He had met with Osam bin Laden in Afghanistan and worked with ⁹⁄₁₁ architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Faris is set to be released on Dec. 23, 2020, but a court filing last year in a U.S. District Court argued that Faris lied on immigration papers and that his terrorist affiliations demonstrated a lack of commitment to the Constitution.

Federal Judge Staci Yanle ruled this month in favor of Faris, saying that there was not enough evidence to prove that any misrepresentations influenced the decision to grant him citizenship.

“American citizenship is precious, and the government carries a heavy burden of proof when attempting to divest a naturalized citizen of his or her citizenship,” she wrote on July 11.

Staci is an Obama nominee. And has all the requisite qualifications.

Staci Yandle is openly gay. She is the first openly gay judge in the 7th Circuit, which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. She also is the first African-American District Judge ever to sit on the federal bench in the Southern District of Illinois.

Despite lazy media coverage, the law is actually quite clear.

If a person … shall within five years … following such naturalization become a member of or affiliated with any organization, membership in or affiliation with which at the time of naturalization would have precluded such person from naturalization under the provisions of section 1424 of this title, it shall be considered prima facie evidence that such person was not attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and was not well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States at the time of naturalization, and, in the absence of countervailing evidence, it shall be sufficient in the proper proceeding to authorize the revocation and setting aside of the order admitting such person to citizenship and the cancellation of the certificate of naturalization as having been obtained by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation

The law is completely clear. Staci Yandle chose to ignore it. Because lefty judges are allowed to make their own laws.