Right wing seeks to abolish Courts

I've had a theory for the last few months that the right wing of the GOP actually wants to end the court system. Delay's recent statements about abolishment and supervision of the courts by the congress have bolstered my theory, but I also thought--Delay's probably just going nuts--nobody else wants to do this.
Todays LA Times, however, has a story about the Focus on the Family and other theocons demanding the very things Delay was spouting, and it was caught on tape at their convention a couple weeks ago. Here's the link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-strategy22apr22,0,4502787.story

Yes, I know that sounds a little far out, but think about it. It's a very simple argument:
Legislators pass laws.
Police or sheriffs enforce the law.
I you break the law, you pay the punishment.
No need to  bring in a judge or jury to screw things up.
Any questions?

•  If only I had Photochop here at work.

  I'd put DeLay's head on Judge Dredd's body.

  by Servo on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 08:02:05 AM PDT

•  American United 4 Separation of Church & State

  have an audio link and transcript up at their site:

  Americans United Exposes Congressional Leaders' Plan To Push Religious Right's Controversial Political Agenda

   

  by Terre on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 08:05:30 AM PDT

•  Get your hair raised here,

  http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/ConstitutionRestorationAct.htm

  by towit on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 08:22:53 AM PDT

•  Should we stop them?

  Suppose that you de-fund the federal courts, making them dramatically less effective.

  Drug offenses would then get prosectued in state courts, typically with far less draconian punishments.  Immigration crimes would no longer be prosecuted.  White collar crimes would be prosecuted by elected attorneys' general and district attorneys in state courts instead of by GOP appointed prosecutors in federal courts.  Jurisidiction over securities fraud and class actions, so recently transferred to the federal courts reverts back to the state courts.  Employment discrimination cases get decided by elected or less partisanly appointed state court judges, instead of by GOP judges chosen for their hostility for such cases in federal court.  

  Intellectual property enforcement comes to a grinding halt.  

  Without a doubt, there are losses that would smart.  Habeas corpus review of prosecutions would end.  But, given that 95%+ of those petitions fail under the current crabbed system, and that nobody gets habeas relief for at least five years, the number of cases would be pretty small.  Also, the Supreme Court (whose existence is constitutionally mandated) might be more inclined to interven on direct appeal if it knew it wouldn't get another shot on the eve of an execution.

  But, smaller federal courts, at a point in time when the courts are dominated by Republican appointees, many of them hyper-conservative, and in which prosecutions are handled by federal prosecutors who are Republicans (U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for a district are both political appointments), might actually be beneficial to Democrats, and we could always reinstate federal court power when we regained control.

  by ohwilleke on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 08:26:07 AM PDT

•  So, what's next?

  These people sound pretty full of themselves and they believe their time is now.

  What are we going to have to do to stop them? How bad will it get?

  by QuestionableSanity on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 08:44:41 AM PDT

  •  What we have to do to stop them.

    1. Stand back and let them talk.
       
    2. Get the word out about what they're saying.
       
    3. Turn them into a public laughingstock.

    by Servo on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 11:17:19 AM PDT

•  The last time the Executive/Leglislative Branch...

  Tried this was when FDR was pissed off that some parts of his New Deal was struck down by the Supreme Court.

  I do not have the text of the decision but essentially when FDR tried to pack the courts with new more sympathetic judges he was stopped by the courts as trying to take judicial branch co-equal power away.

  I would suspect that even the Supreme Court of today would probably do the same thing.  Remember, in FDR's presidency we went from a very conservative era to a liberal era, so the courts were pretty conservative then too.

  by dvogel001 on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 09:40:28 AM PDT