UPDATE: You read about "conservative Christian" and GOP anti-judge hate speech and the risk to judges' lives on AMERICAblog first: here and here and here and here and here and here. And this was our first story back in early March. At some point, will the mainstream advocacy groups jump on this issue, please?
This is what the judge bashing and threats have engendered:
The number of reported threats against judges has been increasing. So have verbal and physical attacks against judges and other court officials, in courthouses and elsewhere. A judge in Atlanta was gunned down in his courtroom. In Florida, the state court judge in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case had to be put under protective guard. In Chicago, the husband and mother of a federal judge were gunned down by a man who had broken into the judge's home to kill her.The Washington Post reports on the dangers of being a judge in a piece titled, "Judges Are Seeking Cover on The Bench: Safety Is Top Concern After Recent Attacks." Think about that for a second. A whole branch of government is under threat.
"The madness in the shadows of modern life," is how that judge, Joan H. Lefkow, described these times in a recent congressional hearing about judicial safety.
Mission accomplished for Frist, DeLay, Cornyn and all their theocratic cronies. Their language of hate and violence towards judges has found a receptive audience.
Nice work.
