Judge Juan Merchan has been caught making donations to Democrats.

In fact, according to The Guardian, he has received a caution from New York's ethics panel for doing so - because it is against judicial ethics rules.

Merchan is the judge who is overseeing the criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump. This is in the so-called hush-money case.

Trump has repeatedly referred to Merchan as a "highly conflicted" judge, and it would appear that Trump is right - for several reasons, besides this new discovery that Merchan is a Democrat donor.

That's against the rules

It would appear that someone has filed a complaint with the New York State Judicial Ethics Panel against Merchan and that the panel has investigated the matter and taken action. Specifics, though, such as who filed the complaint, are unclear.

"[T]he New York state commission on judicial conduct has not revealed who lodged the complaint against Merchan that stems from a $35 donation to the Democratic group ActBlue that included $15 earmarked for Biden for President and $10 each to Progressive Turnout Project and Stop Republicans," The Guardian reports.

The donations were made in 2020. And, Merchan is claiming that the situation is no big deal. He says that the claim was dismissed over a year ago "with caution" from the ethics panel. Presumably, this means that he could face some penalty for doing it again.

It's worth highlighting the fact that, although Merchan was only cautioned, this is a clear violation of legal ethics rules for judges.

The rules prohibit judges from contributing to political campaigns.

It's not just Merchan

It appears that Judge Arthur Engoron has also been hit with an ethics complaint. Engoron is the judge who oversaw the civil fraud case that was brought against Trump - the judge who hit Trump with a more than $450 million penalty, among other things.

This complaint, though, has yet to be adjudicated.

Returning to Merhcan, we also must not forget the fact that his daughter, Loren Merchan, is the president of Authentic Campaigns, which the New York Post describes as "a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm whose top clients include Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)."

This, surely, is another major conflict of interest for Merchan.

This helps to explain how it is that these cases - which legal experts have argued are baseless - have made it as far as they have. In a country with a healthy legal system, one that does not have "highly conflicted" judges, they would have been dismissed long ago.