When Radicals Attack

Not everyone agrees with the decisions judges make, but most people agree that judges have the right to do their job — which is to decide cases based on application of the law, especially the Constitution, not based on who screams the loudest.

A radical few, though, have declared open war against judges who don’t rule “their way” (often, on issues involving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights), using threatening language to argue that judges should be censured or impeached, and comparing judges to the worst evils facing society. Some judge-bashers have even made bizarre allusions to judges being harmed. What worries many people is that these radicals don’t all come from the fringes of society — some are our elected representatives.

“The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today.” — Former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, House majority leader at the time of the Terri Schiavo controversy, commenting on the refusal of federal judges to intervene in the case, which allowed Schiavo’s husband to request that the extreme medical measures keeping her alive be stopped.