Oh marvelous. I see it’s now in vogue for Republican Senators to support violence against judges. Here’s a quote from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on the Senate floor earlier today:
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. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that’s been on the news 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.
Lovely. So, if a judge gets murdered—like, say Rowland Barnes, who was shot by a convicted rapist two weeks ago—it’s his own damn fault. That seems to be the opinion of one standing Senator of the United States. Now let’s count up GOP threats against judges. First there was Tom DeLay saying, “The time will come for the men responsible for [ruling on the Schiavo case] to answer for their behavior.” Now Cornyn. Who’s next? Vice-president Dick Cheney has said he might “have problems” with retribution against judges, but apparently hasn’t quite taken a firm stance on the matter. Where do the other Republicans stand? Who’s pro-judge-killing and who’s anti-judge-killing? Are there any other Republicans still in favor of the rule of law?
