Government shutdown: 'It is time to tell Congress to go to hell'

[n2doc]

By JOSH GERSTEIN | 10/13/13 7:02 AM EDT Updated: 10/13/13 10:09 AM EDT
Federal judges, long used to being blasted as “judicial activists” by members of Congress, are now directing a stream of anger and vitriol right back at Capitol Hill.

Driving judges’ ire: the budget austerity and chaos lawmakers have imposed on the judiciary. Jurists say funding for the courts has already been cut to the bone by way of sequestration — and now the government shutdown has added insult to injury, leaving the government’s third branch running on fumes that likely won’t last out the week.

“It is time to tell Congress to go to hell,” Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf wrote on his blog last week. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Kopf, a George H.W. Bush appointee who sits in Lincoln, Neb., urged his fellow judges to evade the shutdown by designating all their staff as essential and exempt from furlough.
“Given the loss of employees already suffered by the judiciary on account of the sequester and otherwise, why shouldn’t every remaining employee of every federal district court (including [federal public defenders]) be declared ‘essential?’” the judge asked.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/government-shutdown-courts-judges-98233.html

[FarCenter]

1. .

[trueblue2007]

2. everyone should say this

time to TAKE TO THE STREETS: 'It is time to tell Congress to go to hell'

[libdem4life]

3. Special interest funding government "a la carte" ... still a "Me and Mine" vs. "You and Yours"

Few can "tell go Congress to go to hell" and order their staff to be paid, although I'm glad for their staff.

We are very close to Kleptocracy. Consider The Beltway ... DC ... The Federal City ... The Ruling Class.

Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, (from Greek: κλέπτης - kleptēs, "thief"[1] and κράτος - kratos, "power, rule",[2] hence "rule by thieves&quot is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often with pretense of honest service. This type of government corruption is often achieved by the embezzlement of state funds.

[Tx4obama]

4. And... from the link in the OP ...

-snip-

Even before the shutdown, the judiciary shed nearly 2,700 support staff positions over the past two years. Funding for drug testing and electronic monitoring of pre-trial detainees had also been slashed by 20 percent, and federal defenders were under orders to take about 15 days of unpaid furlough in the past year.

The cuts have caused delays in criminal and civil cases. Even the posting of judge’s orders has slowed, with many federal court clerk’s offices looking largely empty compared with a few years ago.

Sequestration cut $350 million, or about 5 percent, from the judiciary’s budget in the past fiscal year, bringing it to about $6.6 billion annually.

-snip-

And on top of that the Senate Republican have been blocking votes on the judicial nominees that Obama has appointed - which is putting a burden on the federal judges that are already over worked!