Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Are Attacks on Judges Supported By Some Right Wing Leaders?

(Preachy Pat Makes Veiled Threats to Judges)

Republican loose cannons in the Senate Judiciary Committee got a much-deserved scolding yesterday when Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow told them that their verbal attacks on the judiciary are "truly dangerous" and might lead to violent action. Lefkow is a federal judge whose mother and husband were recently murdered by a deranged man who once had a court case before her. According to the Judge:

"Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or on the fringe, to exact revenge."

This issue reminds me of when Matthew Shepard was murdered in 1998, after a Summer of tag-team gay-bashing by Congress and right wing groups. Those who created such a hostile climate vehemently denied playing a role in Shepard's death. But words do matter. Anti-gay Republican's set the stage for Shepard's murder in 1998, the same way they set the tone for the murder of today's judges.

Following the Terri Schiavo circus, Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, threatened judges from the floor of the Senate:

"It causes a lot of people, including me, great distress to see judges use the authority that they have been given to make raw political or ideological decisions. I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection, but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. . . . And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in, engage in violence. Certainly without any justification, but a concern that I have."

Recently, Rev. Pat Robertson joined the judge-bashing orgy. In an appearance on ABC's This Week, the holy man said:

"The gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings."

Just like the gay issue, these attacks on judges are not about the government, religion or party affiliation. This is about an ugly, naked power grab by agitators who exploit religion and cause rifts in society for the sake of personal gain. When the next judge is killed, Pat Robertson and Congressional leaders like Sen. Cornyn have no one to blame but themselves.

7 Comments:

Those Republican pigs want judges to die, They are murderous thugs.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/19/2005 9:39 AM

Please, isn't that extreme. We might not agree with Pat Robertson and Tom DeLay, but they are good Americans.

Roger
Atlanta
posted by Anonymous, at 5/19/2005 9:40 AM

PLease Roger, give us a break, although not all republicans are 'pigs', Robertson and Delay are the WORST in the body politic of America, unless of course you agree with their hateful, bigoted, ignorant, power and money grubbing agenda.
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