Judiciary judge thyself...

The alarmingly senseless Sensenbrenner has been a busy little beaver this month. Hot on the heels of legislation seeking to expand our government's ability to datamine ISPs for our surfing habits, the NYT notes in an editorial today, he is proposing a new bill to establish an inspector general who would have the power to investigate federal judges. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently remarked, what a scary idea. The editorial explains the cause for concern.

...The bills contain sweeping language authorizing investigations into "matters pertaining to the judicial branch." And there is nothing to prevent an inspector general from opening an investigation into why a judge handed down a particular decision or sentence.

Even if the bills were improved by including language that expressly limited the inspector general to examining ethical issues, the danger would remain that an inspector general would go after judges to punish them for particular opinions. The Republican majority in Congress has frequently denounced judges' rulings and even threatened retribution.

The judiciary most certainly is in bad need of oversight. Instances of questionable ethical conduct are frequent and well documented. However a bill that dilutes the separation of powers and risks political interference in the judicial process is clearly not the solution. As the editorial notes, now would be the perfect time for the judiciary to come up with an enforceable ethics guideline of its own.

The GOP is desperate to recapture its "value based" base. Those would be the religious radicals who think anyone to the left of Phyllis Schlafly, is a "liberal activist judge." These folks don't threaten just retribution. They issue death threats in the name of God and pray fervently for the infidels to be smote down by his hand. And it's this deep pocketed, lunatic fringe minority the GOP seeks to placate with this sort of ill-advised tinkering with the system.

The hubris on Capitol Hill has reached epic proportions. In recent weeks they have proposed legislation eliminating independent counsel investigations into governmental misconduct - including their own. Now they propose this bill that threatens to intimidate judges with oversight by their branch of government, the net effect being the destruction of another layer of checks and balances so wisely incorporated by our Founding Fathers.

One shudders at the damage these so called Representatives of the people might do in the next six months. We can only hope our weak-kneed opposition party keeps it to a minimum and the voters will respond appropriately to this blatantly self-serving pandering at the ballot box. November can't come soon enough for me.