Legal System: DeLay attacks threaten justice in U.S.

[struggle4progress]

SUSAN ESTRICH


It was only two weeks ago that two members of the U.S. Supreme Court testified before Congress on the need to hire a threat-evaluations expert, the first the court has ever employed, to screen the death threats regularly received against members of the high court.

Justice Clarence Thomas stated that he was shocked when he discovered the volume of the threats and the absence of any sophisticated procedure for handling them. We have been living on borrowed time, he said in answer to questions. The total requested appropriation was under $1 million.

Maybe Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, was too busy attacking judges to hear about what Thomas had said. His latest salvo has been to attack conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy for the great "incredibly outrageous" practice of doing his own research on the Internet and consulting international law in making decisions. Now, this attack would be laughable, it is so ridiculous, were it not for the fact that many of those listening don't know that.

What is wrong with a justice doing research? The words of the Constitution don't answer every question raised in every case in the court - in fact, many cases, based on statutes, regulations and the like, don't even involve the Constitution. <snip>

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/sunnews/news/opinion/11469343.htm

[mcscajun]

1. Interesting article from a Supreme Court insider...

...and she hits the nail right on the head here:

...the rule of law depends on an independent judiciary's ability to administer the law, and it needs the respect of the citizenry to do that. It doesn't help when leaders like him, who are under investigation for ethical abuses, cynically try to deflect attention from their own alleged wrongdoing by using the courts as targets.

(snip)
...It's time Republicans silenced him, because his attacks on the judiciary are dangerous. Whether or not they actually increase the danger to judges, it is enough that they increase the sense of fear, and undermine the rule of law.