by Matt Barr

Senator loses mind

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Mars, said on the floor of the Senate yesterday that recent violence against judges and judges' families might be because the Supreme Court makes stuff up.

Cornyn, citing recent cases of violence against judges, said he wondered "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 violence."

The violence is unjustified, Cornyn said, but is "a concern that I have that I wanted to share."

Cornyn, who also served as a district judge in San Antonio, delivered a blistering critique of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court has taken on the role of "policymaker" rather than enforcer of laws and had "generated a lack of respect for judges generally," he said.

Link via How Appealing, which promises to pass along the full text of the remarks if and when available from the Congressional Record.

The story gratuitously includes a reference to equally dumb remarks by Rep. Tom DeLay promising judges who didn't give him his way in the Terri Schiavo case will "answer for their behavior." Is this some incredibly clumsy coordinated Republican attempt to bring the issue of judicial confirmations to the fore for a public that really doesn't care?

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