Judge warns Congress to mellow on Philosophical BS
Tuttle's Almanac
Urges an End to Harsh Words That Can Lead to Violence
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBRRI94W8E.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge whose husband and mother were slain by a
disgruntled litigant urged Congress on Wednesday to help bring an end to
"truly dangerous" verbal attacks on judges that might lead to violent action.
Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, in her first public comments about her ordeal,
said one way lawmakers could protect judges would be to condemn judge-bashing
remarks by commentators and colleagues.
"Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge,
or on the fringe, to exact revenge," Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"I understand that Congress cannot eradicate violence against judges,
nor are we exempt from this madness in the shadows," she said,
borrowing the final phrase from a note from former President Clinton,
who appointed her in 2000 to the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois.
"But as I replay in my mind the events that led to our tragedy," she went on,
"I believe that several things might have prevented it and could prevent it
from happening to even one more of our judges."
An unemployed electrician, Bart Ross, admitted to the Feb. 28 murder of
Lefkow's family members before he committed suicide in March. DNA tests
have also linked him to the Chicago-area crime, which Lefkow said happened
"for no reason other than that they were in his way on his road to murder me."
She found the bodies, shot to death, when she returned home at 5:30 p.m.
that night. She said, "2/28 is our own personal 9/11."
In addition to asking lawmakers to "publicly and persistently repudiate
gratuitous attacks on the judiciary," Lefkow called on Congress to increase
funding for the U.S. Marshals Service, which protects judges. She also
wants legislation to ban putting personal information about judges and
other government officials on the Internet without their permission.
In recent months, several Republican members of Congress have lashed out
at judges involved in the Terry Schiavo case and others. Schiavo,
a brain-damaged Florida woman, died after her feeding tube was removed,
her parents' legal challenges unsuccessful.
Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said, "The actions on the part of the
Florida court and the U.S. Supreme Court are unconscionable."
"This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people
who need protection most, and that will change," House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay said. "The time will come for the men responsible for this to
answer for their behavior."
Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and head of the Christian
Broadcasting Network, appeared on ABC's "This Week" this month and criticized
the federal courts. Robertson said, "The gradual erosion of the consensus
that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded
terrorists who fly into buildings."
Lefkow said that kind of "harsh rhetoric is truly dangerous."
"Whether liberal or conservative, I have never encountered a judge in the
federal judiciary who can remotely be described as posing a threat, as
Mr. Robertson said," she said.
As for physical protection, Lefkow said Congress should make sure that
money that has been allocated for home security systems for federal judges
gets to them as fast as possible.
In a bill signed into law by President Bush last week, Congress approved
$12 million to install home security systems for the 2,200 active and
semiretired judges and magistrates in the federal court system.
Lefkow had the support of her family in Washington Wednesday - four of her
five daughters were at the hearing, some chuckling when Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.,
made reference to their mother's habit of cooking elaborate meals to
accommodate their conflicting tastes.
More poignantly, Lefkow said, "I am the wife who wakes up in the middle
of the morning, not to a cup of coffee presented by my husband of 30 years
to reopen what we called 'the endless conversation of marriage,' but to
an open book that I was reading in an effort to banish the memories of
5:30 p.m. on the day that changed our world forever."
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ZenIsWhen
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But that's all the republiscams know ........ smear and sleaze!