Buried on the 10th page of the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News was an amazing piece entitled
Texas Legislators take issue with O'Connor's Warnings
Tom DeLay had some really interesting quotes in it, including this gem
"I think she ought to read the Constitution again"
This article is currently not on the online edition - so I'll do what I can with the juciy parts below the fold
The article starts by talking about O'Connor's appearence at the Georgetown Law School
One of the first [concerns] was to warn that the nation could slide into dictatorship if harsh critiques of the judiciary -- from the likes of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Tom DeLay -- go unanswered
The article then goes through O'Connor's quotes from the conference, and then goes through some of the background about how Senator Cornyn's apologetics for murder of Federal Judges and DeLay's call for judicial impeachment.
But then it gets interesting...
Both [lawmakers] took strong issue last week with Ms. O'Connor's remarks...
The senator [Cornyn] called the warning of potential dictatorship "hyperbole, to say the least."
"That's a remarkable thing for a former justice on the Supreme Court to say," he said. "There's no danger of dictatorship while people feel free to express their views, and it's a ridiculous suggestion."
"Obviously she's irritated, and maybe she feels somewhat liberated now that she's no longer on the bench," he said.
Cornyn says at the end of the article
"I don't think it's improper to criticize" judical decision-making
The Morning News also notes Cornyn's time as a judge in Bexar County and on the Texas Supreme Court (Prissy Owen, Alberto Gonzales, Nathan Hecht, and Cornyn on the same court....mmmm....Republican Juciness!)
Reasonble statements for a guy who's been branded as an enabler to dictatorship - not too bad - but now let's hear from Sugarland's own Tommy DeLay....
Mr. DeLay [...] suggested the former justice is rusty on the concept of checks and balances, noting that Congress has an explicit right to strip courts of jurisdiction over any issue as it sees fit.
"I think she ought to read the Constitution again," he said. "We have an authority. They are not an ivory tower over there. All wisdom does not reside in nine people with black robes."
"It's in the Constitution, and it has not been exercised in 50 to a hundred years, and it's time to do it."
The DMN article then discusses the potential targets of this "jurisdiction stripping" - which would destroy the ability of the courts to enforce the Constitutional limits
Gay marriage
public displays of the 10 commandments
mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance
abortion law
fallout from the Kelo decision
and (gasp) citing precident from a foreign court (which brings up a whole new rant for me personally)
"I mean, they're out of control", Mr. DeLay said"
Woah - let me get this straight - the guy who's career is basically done, the guy who's been disgraced as a crony bribe taking power brokering business-over-people monster - the guy who's under fucking indictment but still hasn't resigned from office is telling the third branch of Government that THEY'RE out of control? Excuse me while I mop up this pee I put on the floor during my uncontrolled laughing session...
The Morning News continues
During the Schiavo episode, he decried the "arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president," and warned that "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."
Every single statement in that will make that vein in my forehead pop out in rage. The guy who pathologically tried to federalize a clear state issue. The guy who did exactly like Michael Schiavo wanted to do when it was DeLay's own father who was braindead. The guy who constantly thumbs his nose at the checking branches of government is now crying about being checked? The person who has been totally UNACCOUNTABLE for his actions is now demanding accountability??? Goddamn the hypocracy is staggering.
I've got a suggestion for Tom DeLay - go pick up a copy of Alexander Hamilton's Federalist #78 where he writes
And it proves, in the last place, that as liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments; that as all the effects of such a union must ensue from a dependence of the former on the latter, notwithstanding a nominal and apparent separation; that as, from the natural feebleness of the judiciary, it is in continual jeopardy of being overpowered, awed, or influenced by its co-ordinate branches; and that as nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office, this quality may therefore be justly regarded as an indispensable ingredient in its constitution, and, in a great measure, as the citadel of the public justice and the public security.
Sorry for the Federalist disgression - there are so many quotes in there, I suggest you read the whole document. Maybe send it to DeLay's office...
If you can get the Dallas Morning News print edition - I would suggest you go buy today (Sunday's) edition.