Off The Trail: Anthony Pappas Backs Immigration and Justice Reform

Walking around Astoria Park on a chilly Saturday afternoon, Anthony Pappas talks about the path that brought him to run on the Republican ticket for Congress against Democratic rival Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, particularly in a district that is largely Democratic.

“To get an idea of my childhood, you can go back to one of the world famous movies that was filmed on the street where I grew up,” he says as he talked about West Side Story. “I don’t claim my childhood was exactly like the movie, but it gives you a reference point.”

Pappas, 72, was born to Greek Immigrants in Western Manhattan. Lincoln Center stands where his childhood home once was – when Pappas was 12, his family had to move to Astoria to make way for the building.

On top of his calls for major immigration reform, and undue taxation on New Yorkers, Pappas also wants to see the justice system reformed. And he’s basing the third item on his political platform on experience. Pappas went through a difficult divorce where he found the judge arrive to the bench with a predetermined decision. He thinks some judges abuse their power. “Judges are not investigated or accountable to anyone in my opinion,” he says. “So I would advocate for changing that if I’m elected into Congress.”

Pappas references one U.S. Supreme Court case called Stump v. Sparkman. The 1971 case involved a judge who ruled to permanently sterilize a 15-year-old girl at her mother’s request. The girl was unaware that she was being sterilized and later sued the judge. “I regard it as one of the worst rulings of the United States Supreme Court,” Pappas says.