In recent years, conservatives have targeted the federal judiciary as an enemy of all that is good in the world. Even among elected officials, the rhetoric can sometimes push reasonable boundaries of civil discourse.
Tom DeLay, for example, made some veiled threats against judges after the Terri Schiavo controversy. Shortly thereafter, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said judges who are the victims of violence may bring the attacks onto themselves with liberal rulings. Just as the rhetoric started to cool down again, DeLay returned to the subject, insisting that the federal courts had “run amok” and needed to be reined in.
It’s easy to find similar criticisms, often in even harsher language, on right-wing talk radio and blogs. It’s only natural to wonder if the rhetoric starts to influence behavior.
Threats against federal judges and other court employees have reached record numbers, the U.S. Marshals Service says.
The number of threats in fiscal year 2005 increased 63% from 2003. Marshals investigated 953 threats and inappropriate communications in 2005. Threats this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, are outpacing last year: Marshals have investigated 822 incidents.
“It seems like every few months there’s some type of major threat to a judge,” says U.S. Marshals Service Director John Clark. “It’s very clear to me that we need to continue to be vigilant.”
Donald Horton, the chief inspector for the marshals’ Office of Protective Intelligence, noted that a number of factors may contribute to the increased number of threats, including easier access to judges’ information and improved reporting, but does a heated political environment have any kind of effect?
Just to be clear, I’m not blaming Tom DeLay and Rush Limbaugh directly for lunatics who threaten judges and court employees. I’m reminded of this story from earlier this year.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor have been the targets of death threats from the “irrational fringe” of society, people apparently spurred by Republican criticism of the high court.
Ginsburg revealed in a speech in South Africa last month that she and O’Connor were threatened a year ago by someone who called on the Internet for the immediate “patriotic” killing of the justices.
As a rule, high-profile conservatives don’t literally advocate violence against judges, they just blame judges for corrupting the nation, undermining our security, trashing traditional values, and distorting the Constitution.
Oddly enough, the right generally argues that Hollywood poisons the culture with negative ideas that ultimately turn into dangerous behavior. It’s an argument used to promote increased regulation of violent video games, for example. But what about when conservatives poison the discourse with virulent criticism that may lead to threats against the judiciary? I guess that’s when the “era of responsibility” ends and people are responsible for their own actions.