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Tearing
Down Justice
The Americans United for Separation of Church and State has provided
the L.A. Times with an audio recording of evangelical leaders
discussing tactics for reining in so-called “activist judges.”
“There’s
more than one way to skin a cat, and there’s more than one way
to take a black robe off the bench,” said Tony Perkins, president
of the conservative Family Research Council, his comments caught
on tape. Perkins described attending a meeting with congressional
leaders where the strategy of stripping funding from certain courts
was “prominently” discussed.
“What
they’re thinking of is not only the fact of just making these
courts go away and re-creating them the next day but also defunding
them,” Perkins said. Instead of undertaking the long process of
trying to impeach judges, said Perkins, Congress could use its
appropriations authority to “just take away the bench, all of
his staff, and he’s just sitting out there with nothing to do.”
Also
caught on tape is Focus On The Family founder James Dobson. “Very
few people know this, that Congress can simply disenfranchise
a court,” Dobson said. “They don’t have to fire anybody or impeach
them or go through that battle. All they have to do is say the
9th Circuit [U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals] doesn’t exist
anymore, and it’s gone.
”
Meanwhile, back in Congress, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay lashed
out at Republican appointed Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy
for being a “judicial activist.” “We’ve got Justice Kennedy writing
decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of
the United States? That’s just outrageous,” Delay said. “And not
only that, but he said in session that he does his own research
on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous.” Open criticism
of individual Supreme Court Justices has been rare for members
of congress, but conservative ire over so-called activist judges
apparently knows no bounds.
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