WaPo: Senator Links Violence To 'Political' Decisions

[Robbien]

Sen. John Cornyn said yesterday that recent examples of courthouse violence may be linked to public anger over judges who make politically charged decisions without being held accountable.

In a Senate floor speech in which he sharply criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, Cornyn (R-Tex.) -- a former Texas Supreme Court justice and member of the Judiciary Committee -- said Americans are growing increasingly frustrated by what he describes as activist jurists.

"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," he said. Sometimes, he said, "the Supreme Court has taken on this role as a policymaker rather than an enforcer of political decisions made by elected representatives of the people."

Cornyn continued: "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."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26236-2005Apr4.html

[roguevalley]

1. so basically, you don't understand the Constitution, you retard.

If someone dies, he and DeLay are culpable. I wonder if this retard knows that.

[DU9598]

3. Aiding and abetting

I bet the sentencing judge will be another activist ... at least we can hope.

[The Gunslinger]

15. WoW

Of all the things Ive heard during the Bush reign, this might be the worst. Justifing the murder of judges to gain political advantage. That is real scarry.

[tavalon]

41. It's funny

Just yesterday morning I was letting people on my LJ list know about the liklihood that the nuclear option was going to be used today and that they needed to contact their senators. Since most of my LJ contacts are fellow liberals from Texas I made mention specifically the Senators from Texas. I called them the good fer nothin' slimy yellowbellied snakes who are such a waste of air.

And on the same day, Cornyn once again proves himself to be all of the above.

Ah, just another day with our good fer nothin Senators from Texas........

[Thor_MN]

45. Not funny. He is a terrorist.

By giving aid and comfort with his public support of these domestic terrorists, he is, in shubbie's little black and white world, simply a terrorist himself. He is either with us or against us and he has openly and publicly declared himself to be with the terrorists. If his oath of office includes the concept of defending the country against all enemies, foreign and domestic, he has violated it.

He should be frog marched onto the next plane to Guantanamo Bay for questioning and be held indefinitely until he can be proven not to be a threat to the judiciary.

[beam me up scottie]

58. That is a very interesting

way to put it.:thumbsup:

[tavalon]

75. Not that it really needs clarification

but I meant funny as odd, not hah hah. I raked him over the coals 5 hours before he pulled this stunt. The timing is interestingly odd. It's not every day that I specifically rake him and Kay Bailey over the coals though I suppose I ought to.

[lostnfound]

67. A judge did die, in Texas, yesterday..though perhaps it was a suicide

A Democrat. State District Judge Ed Aparicio. 46 yrs old, 5 sons. Found dead next to a semi-automatic in his den. Definitely a man who stood in the way of big bidness in Texas.

Found just a few hours after Cornyn's comments, I think. Course it was probably just coincidence.

[Firenze777]

77. Is it related?

I did a search and found this article...sounds like a frame-up to me.

http://www.polstate.com/archives/004868.html

[Gman]

2. All I'm going to say is

look at Cornyn's record as a state district judge in San Antonio. I know of one case where a girl that had been laid off sued the Texas Unemployment Commission because she had been denied unemployment compensation. Cornyn heard the case in about 1988. All were astounded that Cornyn disregarded the law and ruled for the TEC and the employer in the case. Make no mistake. Cornyn his self was an activist judge.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

22. Of course he's an activist judge. That's the point.

Conservatives only hate judicial activism when it involves supposedly liberal judges, or decisions they don't like.

[renaissanceguy]

79. Yet overturning Roe v Wade

is NOT activist? Riiiight. Fucking hypocrites.



http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.16778943

[htuttle]

4. In the Atlanta court shootout, the guy was just trying to escape

Bart Ross apparently killed Judge Lefkow's family outside of Chicago because she dismissed his billion dollar malpractice suit (tort reform advocates beware!).

How can this guy relate both to 'activist judges'?

Oh, I know. Cornyn's a flaming idiot. That explains everything.

[jefferson_dem]

10. Geesh...i thought everyone knew the ATL shooter snapped in desperation

after years and years of mental anguish over his perception that non-elected judicial officials were overstepping a restraintist posture toward the political branches of government that he believed was required and necessary as per his understanding of "founding thought" and properly conceived constitutional jurusprudence.

Corny is so right...ly fucked up in his own mind.

[rkc3]

68. This is the same idiot who compared gay sex to

having sex with a box turtle. His words should never be printed again. We are all dumber for having heard this today.

[Rose Siding]

5. Wow -I can't believe the Post got on this so quickly

This is one the media should drive.

[leftchick]

60. you just made me misty eyed....

imagine if we actually had a media and it did drive just HALF of the scandals and fuck-ups of the repukes!

:(

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Oh yes -- a perception created, fed and lovingly nurtured by

you and your gang, Cornyn.

These guys are unbelievable!

[rainy]

7. I saw him say it. I just stood there asking myself if he had just

said what I thought he said. It was unbelievable. I was on my way to come post and was distracted by a phone call and later forgot. But, Oh yea, he said it.

[gulliver]

8. Where's the gratitude for putting Bush in office in 2000?

Trial lawyers and activist Republican Supreme Court Justices put Bush in office. Haven't the Republicans heard you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you?

[rainy]

9. What the hell is an activist judge anyway? Here they go again

defining and framing the debate. They make up terms to suit their agenda and we are left playing defense.

[Erika]

12. Justice Burch who played a pivotal role in the Schiavo case

was appointed by GHWBush. We're not on the defense. They are the ones acting like crazed politicians with no concern for our judicial system.

[MO_Dem]

27. That's just what I was thinking.....

How quickly they forget that if it were not for not for their own activist judges, Al Gore would now be going into his second term!

[mcg]

47. Any judge whose "actions" they don't like.

But if a judge "acts" (makes decisions) in a way they do like, well, then that judge isn't an "activist" judge. It's all a matter of whether they like the judge's decision. Can we say cult-speak?

They are making up their own definition of "activist". From www.dictionary.com, we see that an "activist" is someone who engages in political activism.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=activistic
activism:
"The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause."

[tavalon]

42. That's funny

but also true.

[Merlin]

11. Sounds like code talking to me. The message: raise hell with the courts.

This guy is inciting a redneck riot as a prelude to a new presidential campaign to replace "activist" judges, even if they are conservative republicans basically hewing closely to the law.

Redneck demonstrations at courthouses will galvinize media attention and allow the right to blame all of our troubles on "liberal activist judges."

GWB will call for TV time to announce that he is requesting the US Senate to "set aside outdated privileges that have been granted to those Senators who want to keep activist judges in charge -- judges who refuse to be accountable to the will of the people."

Translation: go nucular.

[Erika]

13. Most of the Judges now serving were appointed by the GOP

not democrat presidents, including the ones the right-wing are so against. The radicals who have taken over the GOP want theocratic judges appointed.

[Merlin]

19. That's absolutely right. And they are by no means "activists"

It's just that they are basing their decisions on legal precedent rather than "Divine Revelation."

[reality based]

14. Maybe Cornyn learned code talking from George Wallace

during his formative years
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=750

[jwirr]

65. Bingo! Another red herring amoung many!

The know that we will amass lobbies against them so they make sure that there are all kinds of idiot targets to distract us.

[CBHagman]

16. What a damnably stupid thing to say.

And how utterly irresponsible. So this clown thinks that that poor old lady and her son-in-law deserved to DIE because the thug who came after the judge was moved by "political" grounds?

Let's all SHARE with Cornyn just what we think of his vicious comments. :puke:

[Erika]

18. I've done so and contacted my DC reps.

We can't let these nuts get their way and damage our very system.

[Mountainman]

17. "enforcer of political decisions made by elected representatives of the

people"

Let's see if I remember my civics lessons. The legislative branch makes the laws and the judicial branch interprets the laws.

Well that's the way it was set up by the founding fathers but now a days the wing nuts want it to be, the legislative branch makes the laws and the judicial branch backs them up.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

20. right wing terrorists

that's what they are. . .

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

21. Mr. Cornyn, with all due respect, you're insane.

The idea that elected officials, the leaders of the Republican party actually think this way is chilling. Why don't we just abolish the judiciary while we're at it? Let's just lay waste to the Constitution? Why do people vote these lugnuts into office?

[reality based]

23. Is he still a lawyer?

TEXAS DISCIPLINARY RULES
OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Preamble: A Lawyer's Responsibilities
4. . . . A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for
those who serve it, including judges, other lawyers and public officials. While it is a
lawyers duty, when necessary, to challenge the rectitude of official action, it is also a
lawyers duty to uphold legal process.

Rule 8.02 Judicial and Legal Officials
(a) A lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with
reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a
judge, adjudicatory official or public legal officer, or of a candidate for election or
appointment to judicial or legal office.



http://www.texasbar.com/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm?ContentID=10968

Surely he knew or should have known that the recent violence directed at judges had nothing to do with recent decisions relating to the death penalty or any politically charged decision and surely he knows or should know that any such talk could serve as a pretext for future violence.

[acmejack]

44. I will file a grievance against him today.

The Texas Bar's grievance hotline is [phone]. Anyone up for a few calls?

[abluelady]

46. Grievance

Can I file a grievance if I don't live in Texas. He did graduate from law school and he served as an attorney general in Texas, but who knows if that means he's a lawyer!

[chomskysright]

81. I'm doing it baby....

[chomskysright]

80. Cornyn is on the bar in Texas....

Home About the State Bar Member Directory


Search Results

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Results For: Last Name: Cornyn

Please click on the name to view details for the lawyer
Last Name First Name Organization/Firm City State Phone Number Status
CORNYN III JOHN WASHINGTON DC (202)
224-2934

[NYC]

24. Hallelujah! The Washington Post.

I was hoping this would get wide attention. Thanks for posting this.

[DemBeans]

25. sick...just sick

Only a self-righteous Republican can breezily justify the murder of judges (and encourage more). How grossly irresposible, it's like inciting the right wing to riot.

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. ANOTHER THREAD on Cornyn's outrageous remarks is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3424542
"BREAKING: GOP Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) says violence against judges is" (understandable)

It cites an AmericaBLog article rather than the Washington Post and has a full transcript of Cornyn's remarks. It's in GD and the Greatest Page with 8 votes currently. So what is new about this thread is that the story is being carried in the Washington Post, which should be good news, assuming that a majority of people perceive his goal: to destroy the constitutional tripartite system of government of this country. Cornyn is calling for abolution of the power of the courts. Here is one of his statements from that speech (which was made to an almost-empty chamber, or the reaction might have been faster):

In his speech, Cornyn criticized the Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision on March 1 that said it is unconstitutional to execute people who were under 18 when they committed their crimes. "In so holding," Cornyn said, "the U.S. Supreme Court said: We are no longer going to leave this in the hands of jurors. We do not trust jurors. We are no longer going to leave this up to the elected representatives of the people of the respective states."

So in his speech he not only excused the violence against judges, he said that the courts should cede its power to the legislative branch (which has already succumbed to the executive branch). There goes the constitution!

And he's a member of the judiciary committee and a former Texas Supreme Court justice! He knows the Constitution and he wants to destroy it.

[Nothing Without Hope]

28. Cornyn IS an activist judge!!! He is a former Texas Supreme Court Judge

and a member of the Judiciary committee. He is not only excusing violence against judges, he states that the Supreme Court judges should not be able to overule the will of elected officials. Thus, the Judicial branch gets eaten by the Legislative branch, which has already been eaten by the Executive branch. One party state, and one branch of government = DICTATORSHIP. This man knows the Constitution and he wants to destroy it. If that's not "activist," what is?

This is a good candidate story for the Paper Chase Project, I would think. We need to get the word OUT. The majority of US citizens value the court system as a way to keep the rule of law from destruction by those who would profit by its erosion.

[qwghlmian]

29. Yes, it is a really stupid thing to say -

but I have seen this kind of speech defended fiercely by some here on DU in all the discussions about Ward Churchill's utterances.

I think both Ward Churchill and Cornyn are slimebags for "understanding" violence. What I'd like to see is all those people who defended Ward Churchill come and defend Cornyn's right to say it without repercussions.

[Beetwasher]

49. Last Time I Check, Churchill Wasn't An Elected Official

And didn't make his statements on the floor of congress. :eyes:

This is a gov't official essentially sanctioning the murder of other gov't officials who he disagrees with.

You do see the difference, don't you? :eyes:

[qwghlmian]

55. Yes, I do -

both people are public servants, on taxpayer's payroll. In case of Ward Churchill, the case is even more serious, because most people know that politicians have the brains of a toadstool and the morals of a snake, and judge their utterances accordingly. A professor in a University you expect something more of.

[Beetwasher]

59. That Could Be the Dumbest Thing I Ever Heard

:eyes:

Talk about having it ass backwards. It's Churchill's JOB as a professor to theorize on causes of violence and to wax philosophical and write papers about it. Churchill wasn't INCITING violence, he was trying to explain it's causes from a scholarly perspective. THAT'S FREE SPEECH.

Cornyn was not only EXCUSING the violence of people who attack judges, he was INCITING it from the floor of the Senate during a period in which there are a LOT of lunatic fundy nutbags just itching for a spark to set off their powder keg. That's NOT protected free speech, that's shouting fire in a crowded movie house.

Your comment is up their in annals of some of the most idiotic things ever said on DU.

[qwghlmian]

61. You're entitled to your opinion -

for me, excusing murders of innocent people sitting in their offices by calling the victims "little Eichmans" does not constitute "philosophical waxing".

[Beetwasher]

62. Sure It Is

Of course it's philosophical waxing, it may be outrageous, provocative, but it's philosophical and it's HIS opinion. And it's most certainly not nearly as dangerous as what Cornyn did. Unfortunately, we will probably soon find out just how dangerous it was. The responsibilities of a Senator are far more weighty than that of a Professor. One is beholden to uphold the constitution and the separation of powers therein and serve the people, the other isn't.

Seriously, your point of view on this is at the very least, demented.

[understandinglife]

30. Indict and prosecute the criminal Cornyn (nt)

www.missionnotaccomplished.us (what are YOU going to do on 2 May 2005 to change the fate of America and humanity?)

[daleo]

31. Another step on the road to fascism.

This advances the concentration of power, by intimidating the judiciary through legal and extra-legal means.

[Voltaire99]

33. Yes. This prick is trying to legitimize violence...

...through his transparent attempt at "understanding." Classic demagoguery.

And what other hope, really, has the despicable right wing? It's been possible for them to fix presidential elections and neuter Congress, but the third branch of government remains a thorn in their side. Precisely, of course, as the Founders intended.

But we should remember: Bushism intends much, too.

[Hailtothechimp]

32. Wow. This man is a U.S. Senator.

And Texas must be so proud of him right now. With the dumbass, Delay, and now this guy, they got themselves a reg'lar trinity. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!

[bling bling]

34. Cornyn CONTACT INFO:

Dallas Office:
Occidental Tower
5005 LBJ Freeway
Suite 1150
Dallas, Texas 75244
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

DC Office:
517 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Website:
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/

[ninkasi]

35. It is also possible, you brainless twit

That overall violence against authority by some is a direct result of living in a regime where the so-called leader breaks treaties, laws, and years of custom on a whim. If the President of the United States will not honor properly ratified treaties, and properly passed laws, and Constitutional Amendments, such as freedom of religion, possibly some of that country's more unbalanced citizens will simply decide to follow the Neo-con playbook, and do as they please, and answer to no one but their own "gut feelings."

[rodeodance]

37. what a dangerous thing to say!!--

[ninkasi]

38. What the senator said was dangerous...

I was pointing out the dangers caused when some of our politicians condone brushing aside law and custom when they don't agree with the law, or the decision of a judge. The ones I referred to going with their "gut feelings", are the ones like the people who bomb planned parenhood centers, kill judges ad their families, and blow up Federal Buildings.

These people are only being encouraged and prodded on by politicians like the whole Bush administration, and the neo-cons, who seem to believe that if what they believe is right, it justifies breaking laws. If we still had a country which strictly followed the rule of law, the radical right would be in prison.

[ljm2002]

36. Law-and-order judges, and the rule of law: Cornyn quotes

Cornyn in support of "law-and-order judges":

http://www.johncornyn.com/issues/agenda.html

"Senate gridlock affects the simple operation of government, like approving law-and-order judges."

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2002-11-08/pols_roundup8.html

Cornyn told supporters he would focus his Washington work on helping all people, "regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, gender, or sex," he said. "I want to represent all Texans. And yes, to confirm President Bush's law-and-order judges."

One wonders whether those law-and-order judges he seems to like so much, would be happy with his endorsement of criminals who murder judges when they don't agree with their decisions?

Cornyn on the rule of law, in Iraq and the USA:

http://www.guidrynews.com/03Forum/14003Cornyn.htm

"Mr. President, in order for Iraq to grow and blossom from the rubble, it requires security. It requires order. It requires the rule of law."
.
.
.
"Washington recognized that for America to truly be a nation where the people were sovereign, it must first be a nation of laws."

Hard to reconcile these statements with the ones he made today. But maybe Cornyn thinks it's legal to kill judges when you don't agree with them? I wonder if he feels the same way about Senators, though? :shrug:

[Nothing Without Hope]

39. BREAKING!!!! Cornyn caught LYING about the legal support for his

filibuster argument:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=180&topic_id=12594#12596
Title: "John Cornyn caught lying about legal support for his filibuster argument"

SPREAD THE WORD!!! (And this new thread only has one vote so far)

[lala_rawraw]

40. The bit of transcript

I got this morning (that is Monday morning from the hill and boy I wish I had the full thing):

CORNYN CHANNELS DELAY: Cornyn Blames Recent Violence Against Judges on
"Unaccountability"

Just about one hour ago on the Senate floor, Senator John Cornyn gave an
astounding account of the recent spate of violence against judges,
suggesting that the crimes could be attributed to the fact that judges
are "unaccountable" to the public.

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN: "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."

[noamnety]

43. Does he also blame the 911 victims? (nt)

[Beetwasher]

48. These FUCKERS ARE YELLING FIRE IN A CROWDED MOVIE HOUSE!!!

Cornyn, Delay, these fucking scumbags. Words fail me.

So THAT'S why Cheney said what he did the other day. They are trying to have it both ways. They are loosing the hounds on Judges, while at the same time trying to make it appear that the WH is not behind it. Got it.

[melissinha]

50. Condoning Terrorism

Sounds like he is condoning terrorism, so lets say.. using this argument .... we hold Cornyn and DeLay hostage and torture them: make them listen to Barbara Streisand.... force them to do some community service and God forbid chain them to trees.... yeah.... when its not their way.... they don't like ridiculous arguments that are not based upon true logic and decency.

JEEEZ these morons are making Texas look so bad.... there are DECENT people here.

[Callboy]

51. same old song. the political

strife is seriously getting out of hand.

[9119495]

52. Hey Scalia! DUCK!!!!!

Seriously...this could backlash. Imiagine if we Dems were violent.

[bejammin075]

53. Coryn: Uhhh, I mean, I could uhhh

understand if someone mailed activist judges some anthrax. I mean, sometimes judges are assholes who abuse authority and make ideological decisions with no accountability. However, if my House or Senate colleagues are assholes who abuse authority and make ideological decisions, at we get mailed some anthrax, it's TERRORISM. Yeah, that's the ticket...

[Yosie]

54. Cornyn is no dummy. He's a cagey, right wing, Texas Republican

lawyer like James Baker and AG Gonzales.

The New York Times has an interesting editorial about the DeLay-Cornyn critiques of the courts, Attacking a Free Judiciary, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/opinion/05tue1.html?

"The low point in the politicking over Terri Schiavo came last week when the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, threatened the judges who ruled in her case. Saying they had "thumbed their nose at Congress and the president," Mr. DeLay announced that "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today." Coming so close to the fatal shooting of one judge in his courtroom and the killing of two family members of another, those words were at best an appalling example of irresponsibility in pursuit of political gain. But they were not an angry, off-the-cuff reaction. Mr. DeLay's ominous statements were a calculated part of a growing assault on the judiciary.

Through public attacks, proposed legislation and even the threat of impeachment, ideologues are trying to bully judges into following their political line. Mr. DeLay and his allies have moved beyond ordinary criticism to undermining the separation of powers, not to mention the rule of law. The Schiavo case was the starkest example of their determination to have things their own way, regardless of the constitutional cost. Conservative elected officials and advocates repeatedly attacked the judiciary's right to decide the legal issues. When they were unhappy with the decisions of the Florida state courts, they rushed a bill through Congress that authorized the federal courts to rule on her case, but not on other cases like it. The bill also told the federal courts not to apply the time-honored legal doctrines that might have led them to stay out.

When the federal courts took the case but ended up agreeing with Florida's courts, federal judges became the next target. Mr. DeLay issued a veiled threat, saying: "Congress for many years has shirked its responsibility to hold the judiciary accountable. No longer." Asked whether the House would consider impeachment charges against the judges involved, he responded, "There's plenty of time to look into that."

Several bills pending in Congress seek to tell the courts how do their jobs. House Republicans have introduced a resolution declaring that international law should not be taken into account in interpreting the Constitution, something the Supreme Court did just last month in striking down the death penalty for offenders younger than 18.

snip-->

Last week, Judge Stanley Birch Jr., a conservative member of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, declared that in the Schiavo case, "the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our founding fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."

Judge Birch is right, but he should not be such a lonely voice. The founders established a system of government in which the three branches - legislative, executive and judicial - act as checks and balances for one another. Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration, unhappy with some rulings of the judiciary, are trying to write it out of its constitutional role. The courts will not always be popular; they will not even always be right. But if Congress succeeds in curtailing the judiciary's ability to act as a check on the other two branches, the nation will be far less free."

[Initech]

57. You really expect to believe this guy?

This is the same guy who compared homosexuality to a guy fucking a turtle. Does anyone here really take anything that John Cornyn says seriously anymore?

[Yosie]

64. I take Texas Right Wing Oil Money Lawyers Very Seriously

Texas right wing lawyer James A. Baker III of Baker & Botts, LLP, Houston TX (attorney for the Bush family, Neil Bush, the US interests of the House of Saud, the Carlyle Group; former Secretary of State) is very powerful and the personification of evil.

Texas right wing lawyer Alberto Gonzales is now the Attorney General of the US - the author of the Abu Ghraib torture memo and the father confessor of W on death sentences.

Texas right wing lawyer John O'Neill was the Buddy Fucking founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Texas Right Wing Big Oil and Big Money Lawyer John Cornyn was Attorney General of Texas and a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He is not stupid -- just untrustworthy.

I hear all of the Lawyer Jokes about the "Court Street Personal Injury Lawyers of Brooklyn" (How do you when it's cold in Brooklyn --- when the Court Street lawyers have their hands in their own pockets) and all of Bush's (and Frist's) derogatory comments of Medical Malpractice Lawyers (whose clients have been maimed and killed and put in persistent vegetative states in Frist's hospital chain) and consumer lawyers and civil rights lawyers.

The real bad actors are the "Texas, Right Wing, Oil Money Lawyers." and you don't hear any derogatory remarks or lawyer jokes about them.

[Initech]

72. RE:

"The real bad actors are the "Texas, Right Wing, Oil Money Lawyers." and you don't hear any derogatory remarks or lawyer jokes about them."

Maybe Lewis Black and David Cross...

[Mr_Spock]

56. Republicans are advocating violence huh?

Why?

[DemoTex]

63. Don't forget that as Texas AG Cornyn "fixed" Funeral-gate ..

The Funeral-gate scandal was a major obstruction to then Governor Bu$h's run for the White House. Bu$h's Attorney General was Cornyn. Cornyn "fixed" Funeral-gate for Bu$h. The rest is rather sordid history.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol18/issue45/pols.sci.html

[Az_lefty]

66. This worthless Senator should be censured for this.

He's insighting violence against judges.

[Kimber Scott]

69. First, I wonder if the Supreme Court regrets a certain 2000 political dec-

ision. Second, I wonder when somebody is going to hold these politicians accountable for advocating, or excusing, violence against judges - many of whom they picked themselves. This is a crying shame. Once more I ask, perhaps for the 1000th time, what is happening to our country?

[TedsGarage]

70. An Angry Chicagoan

Bart Ross was a deranged and desperate man, not a right-winger standing up to "judicial tyranny." That murder happened in the next neighborhood south along the lakefront. I walked past the house and saw the flowers.

Cornyn is using this sorrowful moment in our city's history to bolster the case for a right-wing judiciary. And he is trying to justify murder. But Texans think killing people is the answer to everything, don't they?

[hector459]

71. The violence is caused by people like Cornyn dissing the judges without

just cause. The RW criticizes to the point of demonizing the US government and the US courts. They used to demonize the military until they needed tham for cannon fodder. I remember during the Clinton years how the volunteer military was demonized as stupid, un-trained, and low life just because a lot of them were minorities looking for a way out of poverty and crime-ridden existence. Yet, it was the same military that marched into Iraq and gave Bush the opportunity to claim "mission accomplished" (NOT!!) So now we have trained and used the "grunts" to do the nation's dirty work in Iraq and Rush is on the air everyday telling them how they should hate their government and 50% of the public they are fighting for. No one dishonors authority like the RW and their supporters are just taking their cues from them just like McVeigh did.
We are reaping what the RW has sown in this country: hate, bigotry, ignorance, and hypocrisy.

[teryang]

73. Speaking of unaccountable decision makers

This is outrageous coming from a republican Senator. They screw the people on a daily basis. The frustration with them far exceeds any hostility toward judges based upon the peculiar circumstances of individual cases. The motivations are overwhelmingly subjective in resentment of judicial decision makers.

In the Senate and House on the other hand, without cause, the decision makers sell out the public interest every day.

Who is unaccountable? Who is more isolated from the general public? Working judges who deal with the public on a daily basis and need to explain their decision making to a very critical audience of lawyers or the dishonest gas bags in Washington with their superficial and manipulative rhetoric readily accepted by a passive press?

[Omegaman]

74. Cause and Effect?

Sure he wants to cause more violence against judges and then
the effect
will be the he and the other Cons shouting about how America
is falling apart BECAUSE of the activist judges.  Just more
circular gobbledy gook from the right.  We are in trouble so
lets make a bunch of noise about something else a la Tom
Delay.

[mark wayne]

76. And that son-of-a-bitch used to be the AG of Texas.

God help us!

[progressivebydesign]

78. Oh bullshit! Most of those cases involve domestic disputes or money.

Opportunistic idiot.

[Rabrrrrrr]

82. And another cog falls neatly into place for the republican fascist party

Cornyn, along with some others recently, have quite cleverly been consisten in saying that the role of the courts is to ENFORCE the laws set up by congress. While we all know that, actually, their role is to make sure the laws are constitutional, as part of the checks and balances.

He's quite deftly managed to make it appear that what judges are doing is actually ILLEGAL and WRONG.

He's also quite nicely now made it okay to murder "activist" judges. Oh, I'm sure he'll say the murdering is wrong, but "understandable", but we all also know the real code he's sending out here is twofold: to the more cowardly "activist" judges he's saying "From now on your life is in jeopardy"; and to the freepers and other hatefilled filth out there, he's saying, "It's okay to murder the judges we tell you to murder; or to harass the ones we tell you to harass, and every time it happens we will officially say it's sad, but also officially remind everyone that 'it's not surprising'."


Oh, Hitler, your lessons were indeed learned very well. Very well, indeed. America might be a nation of mostly ingnorant people, but there are some very clever people here, and they have learned your tactics for taking over the ignorant majority.