In 2000, U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Duval Jr., based in New Orleans, ruled Louisiana’s approval of “Choose Life” vanity plates was unconstitutional because the state didn’t offer an alternative plate endorsing reproductive freedom for women. Duval’s decision was akin to saying a state couldn’t market vanity plates supporting pro-education forces unless it also made available a plate for anyone who believes school is a waste of time. He was reversed.

Duval, a 1994 appointee of former President Bill Clinton, has also ruled that Hurricane Katrina was a manmade disaster, not a natural disaster. On his own, he has also amended federal benefit programs for people who suffered economic harm in the aftermath of the 2005 storm.

So it was no surprise, really, last week when Duval ruled — without a jury trial — that the Corps of Engineers must pay damages to six plaintiffs in a Katrina-related case whose specific claim was that the Corps had failed to properly maintain the channel South Louisiana residents know as “Mr. Go.” (It’s the MRGO, or Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ship channel).

Anyone remotely in touch with reality knows that government agencies suggest projects and apply for funds.

Anyone remotely familiar with the Corps of Engineers knows that the Army agency, when Congress provides allocations, almost always hires private contractors to perform work to Corps specifications.

The record is sure and certain that the Corps, in the years preceding Katrina, made repeated funding requests not just for MRGO maintenance and improvement, but for myriad projects to enhance flood protection in the New Orleans region. If the work was funded, done and defective, there should be contractor and, perhaps, Corps liability. If not funded, then it’s nonsense to impose a financial penalty on the Corps and, in turn, American taxpayers. It’s akin to fining an NFL kicker for not making a field goal he wanted to try but was rebuffed from even attempting because the coach called a different play — and then demanding fans in the stands pay the fine.

Being reversed is nothing new for U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Duval Jr. The Corps of Engineers is not incapable of error, but Duval’s decision smacks of populism, not law, and the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals will once again have to make that clear.