Judge’s ‘people like you’ tirade on Chicago violence didn’t cross the line, appeals court rules

U.S. District Judge John Kness at his 2020 swearing-in at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. (Provided)

A federal judge in Chicago had had enough and wasn’t about to give Elvin Saldana-Gonzalez a break.

So, as U.S. District Judge John Kness was about to sentence Saldana-Gonzalez in a gun-possession case last year, he unleashed a heated and lengthy commentary on violence in Chicago, where about 700 people were killed and 2,000 carjacked in 2022.