christian grantham
Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD.
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April 10, 2005

Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is stepping up his rhetoric and assault on the judiciary and the democratic balance of power. Last week, I watched live on C-SPAN a 3 hour forum titled "Confronting the Jucidical War on Faith." In that extraordinary three hours, Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other conservatives launched blistering and inflammatory rhetoric calling for everything from dismantling our democratic balance of power to out-right thuggish police intimidation and imprisonment of the judiciary.

If you want to see the level of disdain for our country's Democracy today's conservative movement has stooped to, you owe it to yourself to watch "Confronting the Jucidical War on Faith." If you value Democracy in America, you owe it to yourself to arm yourself with their own words.

Republicans have chosen as their leader in the United States House of Representatives a man who is not only ethically challenged, but who is about to launch in the party's name a firey war on America's judiciary with any available means.

Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is preparing to imprison judges. He is entertaining legislation to circumvent impeachment procedures and use police to forcibly remove judges from their jobs and offices. He is prepared to shepherd radical nominations to the judiciary with inflammatory anti-constitutional views. He is preparing to dismantle the balance of power in America with your permission, the permission of the silent, the permission of the apathetic and worst of all, the permission of the entire Republican Party.

Don't take my word for it. Read a couple of sections of the forum I transcribed featuring Michael Schwartz, Chief of Staff to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), echoing some of DeLay's previous comments. Here, Schwartz finds the jurisdiction of the courts to measure Congress against the nation's highest law simply too much to swallow. Perhaps he would prefer a dictatorship?

The Supreme Court is an inheritantly anti-majoritarian institution as long as it purports to be able to grade the papers of Congress and to be able to grade the papers of the legislatures. And, as an anti-majoritarian institution, and I don't think all anti-majoritarianism is necessarily wrong, but over the long haul, it is counter to the very basis of this Republic, which is not soverignty of judges, but soveriengty of the people. And until we can restore the sovereinty of the people, it is a sick and sad joke to claim that we have a constitution here.
[Confronting the Jusidical War on Faith - CSPAN - 04-07-05]

Here, Schwartz proposes to scrap the entire impeachment process for the President having the power to simply call the police to forcibly remove judges that violate Republican defined "good behavior." The arrogance and thuggish rhetoric of Republicans has never seen such appauling lows.

There is an easier way. Uh, because, uh, Impeachment requires, afterall, a two-thirds vote in the Senate after a trial. And, and what, uh, what, uh, uh, Professor Berger wrote harkens back to discussions, uh, in, uh the first Congress, even, at the time the first jucidicary act was written, uh, where it was proposed that Congress establish, by law, a set of standards of judicial good behavior. And those standards could include things, like, uh, obeying the text of the Constitution and being, uh, faithful to their oath and other things that, uh, I think it would be hard to pin down any of the current incumbents, uh, and find them guilty of. Uh, and uh, and I, I think that would be a much easier way, uh, to, uh, to, uh, to focus the attention of judges on, uh, on, uh, doing their job, instead of, uh, instead of doing someone else's job, namely the legislature's job. Because, if we have a clear standard, and if it is breached, then the judges term has simply come to an end, and the President gives him a call and says clean out your desk, uh, the, uh, the capitol police will be in to help you, uh, find your way home. Uh, that's the end of it. We don't need any trials. We don't need any impeachment. We don't need the politics of that. If a judge violates a clear established standard of good behavior in the law, then he can be removed by the President.
[Confronting the Jusidical War on Faith - CSPAN - 04-07-05]