It must not have been easy for District Court Judge Joan Lefkow to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, after a psychotic plaintiff killed her husband and mother last month in Chicago, but Lefkow shared an important message that deserves more attention: the anti-judiciary crusade on the right is not without consequences.
U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow criticized “some Members of Congress” on Wednesday for attacking the motives of federal judges, less than three months after her husband and mother were slain by a disgruntled claimant.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the need to increase security for judges, Lefkow pleaded with committee members “to publicly and persistently repudiate gratuitous attacks on the judiciary,” specifically statements made by Members of Congress and televangelist Pat Robertson.
“In this age of mass communication, harsh rhetoric is truly dangerous,” Lefkow said. “It seems to me that even though we cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between rhetorical attacks on judges in general, and violent acts of vengeance by a particular litigant, fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or the fringe, to exact revenge on a judge who ruled against them.”
(Naturally, my friends at Crooks & Liars have the video from C-SPAN.)
Lefkow refrained from calling out lawmakers by name — classy restraint, to be sure — but it doesn’t take a great memory to recall that members like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), as well as GOP activists like Robertson, have pushed the rhetorical envelope to dangerous levels of late when attacking the judiciary.
My only concern is that appeals to the right from victims like Lefkow are predicated on the idea that today’s Republican leaders have some sense of shame, and that public humiliation can change their behavior. It also assumes that congressional leaders are willing to distance themselves from the more radical elements of the GOP base.
I’m not convinced any of this is possible, but Lefkow deserves credit and praise for making the case.