Punishing "Activist Judges"

Recently, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex) implied in a Senate floor speech that recent examples of courthouse violence may be linked to public anger over judges who make politically charged decisions without being held accountable. He asserted that Americans are growing increasingly frustrated by what he describes as activist jurists.

At one point saying "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."

It sure sounds like he is trying to imply a direct connection between the 2 recent court/judge related shooting and conservative's disdain for "activist judges"? (Even though the two shootings had nothing to do with political or ideological desicions) Of course, it may have just been a case of poor choice of words.

But if wasn't implying as much, the right wing talk show personalities have. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and company have also "speculated on the regrettable but perhaps necessary act of punishing judges". And Tom Delay has made remarks about Congress needing to "punish" out of control judges to make them "answer for their behavior".

Is this a vast right-wing conspiracy to further undermine and de-legitimize the judiciary OR an overblown reaction on the left to one single Senator's unthoughtful, but otherwise non-threatening remarks?

Personally, I think there is a dangerous movement afoot by conservative politicians (aided by their well oiled media mouthpieces) who want to discredit any judical descion that they disagree with. The danger is that legions of sheeple whose world view is entirely shaped by the rehtoric of right wing talk show hosts will fail to see how such continued attacks on the judicary (if taken to their desired ends) will threaten the rule of law.

A full debate at this good (but long) thread:

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2005/04/police_your_own.html