Rachel Berg has this fascinating article today on Realclearpolitics, venturing some answers to the query that forms the title of this post. The headline is, “Trump and His Jurist Sister: A Study in Contrasts.” Appellate star David Fine of K&L Gates is quoted:

Barry “is a very active judge at oral argument, which is usually a sign a judge has already read the briefs and is very actively thinking about the case,” said David Fine, an appellate lawyer based in Harrisburg, Pa. “She is very polite in questioning and at the same time also direct.”

I’m quoted too.

The article features an interesting discussion of Barry’s record in immigration appeals, focusing on an opinion I haven’t seen mentioned in any prior Barry/Trump coverage:

[M]any of her immigration-related decisions are notable for their clear breaks with Trump: in calling for limits on the executive’s authority, and in their explicit compassion for individuals.

* * *

[O]n the Third Circuit bench, Barry considered whether the government should be permitted to deport Malachy McAllister, who had fled persecution and political turmoil in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and ultimately sought asylum in the U.S. Beginning in 1999, however, immigration authorities sought to deport him.

The panel, including Barry, found that there were no legal avenues for McAllister and his family to remain in the country. But her opinion sought to highlight the humanity of the case and suggested that the law had fallen short.

“I refuse to believe that ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…’ is now an empty entreaty,” Barry wrote. “But if it is, shame on us.”

“I cannot find a way to keep the McAllisters in this country, and I have surely tried,” Barry added. “But the laws Congress has enacted, particularly those enacted in the wake of the September 11th horror, are bullet-proof, designed, as they should be, to combat terrorism. The problem here, though, is that Congress’s definition of ‘terrorist activity’ sweeps in not only the big guy, but also the little guy who poses no risk to anyone. It sweeps in Malachy McAllister.”

Check out the whole story, it’s worth it.