It is sad to consider that judges' decisions are influenced by personal fear, but since 1970, seven state and federal judges have been murdered in job-related incidents. The fact is, there is a long history of criminals taking retribution on judges. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) seemed a bit disingenuous yesterday when he said:
"It causes a lot of people, including me, great distress to see judges use the authority that they have been given to make raw political or ideological decisions," he said. Sometimes, he said, "the Supreme Court has taken on this role as a policymaker rather than an enforcer of political decisions made by elected representatives of the people."
Sources: Today's Washington Post story. NYT Op-Ed by John Kane, senior judge in the United States District Court for
Colorado.