When Judge Martin Feldman threw out the Obama Administration’s unlawful six-month moratorium on off-shore drilling, you had to know the left and its allies in the media would go after the judge. They would look for whatever dirt they could find to attack the man rather than confront his sound legal reasoning.

Today, the Associated Press fires the first shot. The wire service has learned that Feldman had oil investments at one time. There’s no evidence that he still has financial interest in the oil industry or that his past connections influenced his legal ruling, but hey — the man needs to be attacked for making The Messiah look foolish.

The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama administration’s six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He’s also a new member of a secret national security court.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan, reported owning less than $15,000 in stock in 2008 in Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the sunken DeepwaterHorizon drilling rig.…

Feldman’s 2008 financial disclosure report — the most recent available — also showed investments in Ocean Energy, a Houston-based company, as well as Quicksilver Resources, Prospect Energy, Peabody Energy, Halliburton, Pengrowth Energy Trust, Atlas Energy Resources, Parker Drilling and others. Halliburton was also involved in the doomed Deepwater Horizon project.

Feldman did not respond to requests for comment and to clarify whether he still holds some or all of these investments.

He’s one of many federal judges across the Gulf Coast region with money in oil and gas. Several have disqualified themselves from hearing spill-related lawsuits and others have sold their holdings so they can preside over some of the 200-plus cases.

Why, he’s corrupt! Clearly his decision was influenced by his past investments in the Gulf oil industry. Or not…

Although Feldman ruled in favor of oil interests Tuesday, one expert said his reasoning appeared sound because the six-month ban was overly broad.

“There’s been some concern that he is biased toward the industry, but I don’t see it in this opinion,” said Tim Howard, a Northeastern University law professor who also represents businesses and people claiming economic losses in several spill-related lawsuits. “They overreacted and just shut an industry down, rather than focusing on where the problems are.”

That was what Feldman essentially said in his ruling, writing that the blanket moratorium “seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”

Feldman has served 27 years on the federal bench, his past investments — investments he may not even have anymore — likely represented a small part of his portfolio, and his ruling seems to be on sound legal basis regardless of what he owned in the past or continues to own.

Furthermore, the Obama Administration clearly doesn’t think it will be able to win the appeal. Otherwise, Secretary Salazar wouldn’t be reimplementing the moratorium against the decision of the court. If the administration thought it could easily win the appeal, why not wait for Feldman’s decision to be overturned? Obviously the White House doesn’t have high hopes.

So the left will attack Feldman for pointing out and stopping Barack Obama’s latest overstep of power.