In June 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously removed U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson from the Microsoft antitrust case, finding he had created an appearance of bias by giving secret interviews to journalists during the trial. Jackson had disparaged Microsoft to reporters — reportedly comparing Bill Gates to Napoleon and likening the company's executives to stubborn 'gang members' in remarks later published, including in The New Yorker. The appeals court called his conduct a serious breach of judicial ethics, vacated his order breaking Microsoft in two, and sent the case to a new judge. It was a significant setback for the government even as the court upheld that Microsoft was an illegal monopoly.