Tuesday, April 05, 2005

DAILY KOS has a nice roundup of blog commentary on John Cornyn's support for assaulting and killing judges.

UPDATE: And here are a few more that I found after I posted the above:

Edwardpig, who points out the source for the perception, if it is indeed out there, that the judiciary is "making political decisions with no accountability":

Could it be from speeches Republicans made in the House and Senate? (And these are just the statements obtained from a brief look at the 108th and 109th Congresses)

Tom DeLay: "We will continue to better protect and educate our children, to protect the institution of marriage, to protect the Constitution from judicial activism, and protect the role of family and faith in the public square." (Note: DeLay has also refused to explicitly condemn violence directed at judges)

Ron Lewis (KY): "America's judicial branch has become increasingly overreaching and disconnected from the values of everyday Americans . . . . I believe these actions usurp the will of the governed, circumvent representative government by allowing tribunals of a select few, not elected or otherwise politically responsible, to conclusively rule on issues that are radically reshaping the societal traditions of our great Nation."

Lamar Smith (TX): "The Supreme Court's recent use of foreign law as a precedent in several cases is disturbing. This judicial activism threatens our Nation's sovereignty."

Trent Franks (AZ): "Mr. Speaker, there have been many external threats to this Republic across the years. Recently, we have been highly focused on the war on terrorism and diminishing global nuclear threats. We have always been able to face such external threats successfully because our country has had a strong internal foundation. But, today, it is critically important to sound a past-due warning about the internal threat to this republic. We are going to awaken to the fact that our own courts, in spite of their sacred duty and charge to defend the United States Constitution, have now become the greatest threat to its survival. The rule of law itself and the underpinnings that hold this Nation together are now at stake."

Orrin Hatch: "This judicial activism is a nefarious practice that seeks to undermine the principle of democratic rule. It results in an unelected oligarchy--government by small elite. Judicial activism imposes the will of a small group of politicized lawyers upon the American people and undermines the work of the people's representatives."

Ezra Klein:

The whole thing stinks of nothing so much as McCarthyism, with demagogues assaulting America's foundational values while allied opportunists stand by and watch, not necessarily in agreement with the statements but aware of the political benefits they confer. Republicans, who've long advocated strict adherence to the constitution, sit meekly by while some of their numbers attempt to destroy the judicial independence the Founders worked so hard to grant. As a party, they should be ashamed. As individuals, they should be clamoring to expel the offenders. What Tom Delay and his friends are advocating is, in the simplest and clearest terms, unAmerican. And anyone who stands by while they do it is betraying their country as well.
Matthew Yglesias:

Does Senator Cornyn want more people to go about murdering judges? One doubts it. But it seems that he's happy to try and use such incidents to advance his own agenda. Happy to use them, one notes, even though the recent high-profile cases don't seem to actually have a political agenda. His hope -- along, it seems, though less clearly -- with Tom DeLay's is that judges will begin to operate under a cloud of intimidation. They may not like the idea of buckling under to whatever it is Cornyn wants them to do, but Cornyn is making it clear that he's the judges' friends. He doesn't want to see them killed, or maimed, or assaulted. He's trying to save them. Trying to warn them. Warning them that unless they change their ways someone -- someone who has nothing to do with John Cornyn or the Texas cabal running the country, mind you -- just might decide to do something crazy. But here's Cornyn offering a safe harbor. Confirm all of Bush's nominees, no matter how incompetent, corrupt, or inept they are, no matter how unsound their view of the constitution. And for the others, try to conform your views to those of Bush's new appointees. Do it and you'll be safe. If you don't do it, well, then, certainly John Cornyn wouldn't advocate killing you, he's just pointing out that it will happen.

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