Okay, this is rich. The guy who thinks violence against judges may be justified has taken the lead in the Senate on the nuclear option debate. Yep, Texas Republican John Cornyn, who just a couple weeks ago said:
SENATOR JOHN CORNYN: "I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder 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 - engage in violence." [Senate Floor, 4/4/05]Now, Cornyn's filling in for the little puppet doctor on the Senate floor -- pushing the debate to the brink according to the Washington Post:
Cornyn rejected the idea that proceeding with a de facto rule change to end filibusters against judicial nominees would lead to a "constitutional crisis." He added, "This is a controversy, a disagreement, not a crisis." Once the matter is resolved by a majority vote, he said, "we should get back to work."Resolve this issue once and for all, Senator Cornyn? Just exactly what do you mean by that. Does Cornyn have some kind of final solution in mind, we wonder. You know, if judges making political decisions incites violence...what does it mean when elected officials make political decisions....does Cornyn reach the same conclusion?
But Democrats have vowed to use other Senate rules, such as the need for unanimous consent to hold committee hearings, to tie up the chamber and prevent other business from going ahead.
In a floor speech preceding the cloture motion, Cornyn was critical of the bipartisan group of more than a dozen senators who have been trying to craft a compromise that would ensure votes on most of the contested nominees in return for preservation of the filibuster for use in "extraordinary circumstances."
The Texas senator said a resolution of the dispute should not be based on "some bogus suggestion, some deal cut by a handful of senators," that would "throw some nominees overboard" while leaving the main issue unresolved: the potential use of the filibuster to block a future Supreme Court nominee.
"Now is the time to resolve this issue once and for all," Cornyn said.
It just shows that the GOP acts with impunity. If they're not comparing Democrats to Hitler, they are justifying violence against judges.
We really are in a bizarro world.
