Judicial Intimidation

From the Washington Post:

Sen. John Cornyn said yesterday that recent examples of courthouse violence may be linked to public anger over judges who make politically charged decisions without being held accountable.

In a Senate floor speech in which he sharply criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, Cornyn (R-Tex.) -- a former Texas Supreme Court justice and member of the Judiciary Committee -- said Americans are growing increasingly frustrated by what he describes as activist jurists.

In fact, as the Post story explains, violence against judges has generally involved highly unstable people who bear personal grudges against particular decisions against them.

It's difficult to see why Cornyn would make so asinine a comment if he had not intended to send the message that federal judges should watch what they do from now on. This cannot be put down to an offhand remark or mere abstract speculation. It was in a speech on the Senate floor made by a seasoned politician. Cornyn knew exactly what he was doing.

Sadly, Republican politicians like Tom Delay and Cornyn now appear to believe that veiled threats against the federal judiciary play well with their political base. Cornyn's remarks are especially disgraceful given the fact that he is a himself a former judge. He above all people should know better than to suggest on the floor of the U.S. Senate that judges have brought on themselves the violent acts of lunatics. He does nothing but encourage such violence in the future.