Democrats accuse GOP of trying to undermine judiciary.

Senate Democrats excoriated their Republican colleagues Tuesday, accusing them of trying to undermine the federal judiciary and impose their will on the separate and independent branch of government.

The battle over judges has spread to several fronts on Capitol Hill, from parliamentary struggles regarding judicial nominations to anger over the refusal of courts to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo to conservative efforts to rein in those perceived as activist judges.

The latest skirmish ignited after Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former Texas Supreme Court judge, suggested Monday on the Senate floor that recent incidents of courthouse violence might be connected to feelings that judges are making "political decisions" and are "unaccountable to the public."

Cast as extremists

Senate Democrats seized on the battle over the judiciary Tuesday as yet another opportunity to portray Republicans as extremists.

Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois called the comments troubling and said Cornyn went too far trying to link judges' decisions with violence against judges.

"The deranged individual who [killed U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow's mother and husband] did so after she denied him a medical malpractice claim in court. That is hardly evidence of judicial activism," Durbin said. "And the man who went on a rampage in Georgia was convicted of rape. To suggest that the judge somehow overstepped his bounds in inviting this kind of response I think is totally off base."

Cornyn insisted Tuesday that Democrats were taking his words out of context.

"I'm deeply concerned about violence," he said, noting that he served as a judge in Texas for 13 years. "Judges should be independent, and judges should do their duty."

He said he had been trying to make the point that "some judges are engaged in policymaking and undermining respect for the judiciary."

Cornyn's comments followed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's suggestion last week that the judges who refused to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted would face retribution.

"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," DeLay (R-Texas) said after Schiavo died, later calling the judges part of "an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president."

A spokesman for DeLay said the majority leader expects the House Judiciary Committee to make recommendations about what actions the House might take.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Cornyn's and DeLay's words "are really hard for me to comprehend and justify.

"Holding a copy of the Constitution, Reid said, "I believe in our Constitution. I believe in the separation of powers doctrine. I believe that the Founding Fathers were wise in developing these branches of government--executive branch, legislative branch, judicial branch--one having no more power than the other."

Some conservatives began complaining long before Schiavo's case gained notoriety that too many judges are taking the law into their own hands, ignoring the will of Congress.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) said Congress needs to look into some sort of regulation of judges. "It's no longer balance of power--it's all in the hands of the judiciary," he said.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said Republicans have complained about judges as a means of playing to their conservative base.

"Over the last 20 to 30 years, part of the mantra of the right wing of this country has been that judges are somehow usurping the rights of the people," Obama said.

Not all key Republicans voiced discontent over the federal court decisions in the Schiavo case, however. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said, "I believe we have a fair and independent judiciary today." He said the courts' review of Schiavo's case "was not as complete as we would like," but, he repeated, the courts were "fair and independent."

Looming in the background

Republicans and Democrats have engaged in a war of words this year over whether the minority party has the right to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominations. And in the background is the possible retirement of one or more Supreme Court justices, which would give the president his first chance to nominate a member of the court.

Frist said the courts' refusal to intercede in Schiavo's medical care would not influence his attempt to get Bush's judicial nominees confirmed by the Senate. "I don't associate the two issues directly," he said.

He said he is working with Reid to find a compromise and avoid the "nuclear option," which would prevent Democrats from halting legislative activity in the upper chamber and allow an up-or-down vote on all nominees without the threat of a filibuster.

Meanwhile, Durbin and Obama have asked the Senate for $17 million to provide security for federal judges at their homes.

(4-6-05, Chicago Tribune.)