Ginsburg, Lobbing Fear from Abroad

Ginsburg Faults GOP Critics, Cites a Threat From 'Fringe'

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 17, 2006; Page A03

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg assailed the court's congressional critics in a recent speech overseas, saying their efforts "fuel" an "irrational fringe" that threatened her life and that of a colleague, former justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Addressing an audience at the Constitutional Court of South Africa on Feb. 7, the 73-year-old justice, known as one of the court's more liberal members, criticized various Republican-proposed House and Senate measures that either decry or would bar the citation of foreign law in the Supreme Court's constitutional rulings. Conservatives often see the citing of foreign laws in court rulings as an affront to American sovereignty, adding to a list of grievances they have against judges that include rulings supporting abortion rights or gay rights.

Though the proposals do not seem headed for passage, Ginsburg said, "it is disquieting that they have attracted sizeable support. And one not-so-small concern -- they fuel the irrational fringe."

She then quoted from what she said was a "personal example" of this: a Feb. 28, 2005, posting in an Internet chat room that called on unnamed "commandoes" to ensure that she and O'Connor "will not live another week."

Ginsburg's counterattack on GOP critics, posted on the court's Web site in early March but little noticed until now, comes at a time when tensions are already high between the federal judiciary and the Republican-led Congress. The rift stems in part from conservatives' unhappiness over the Supreme Court's use of foreign laws in decisions striking down the juvenile death penalty and laws against sodomy.

Some conservatives are still fuming over the federal courts' refusal to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case last year.

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), author of one of the resolutions to which Ginsburg alluded, said yesterday that "no one in Congress wants to compromise the safety of any public official."

But Feeney noted that some of Ginsburg's own colleagues on the court disagree with her. He said "there are some justices that get awful thin skins when they get their black robes on, and when they talk about judicial independence, they sometimes mean no one should be able to criticize them."

Reflecting the tension between the two branches, O'Connor used a speech at Georgetown University Law Center last week to repeat her own past warnings about the threat to judicial independence posed by Republican criticisms of the court's rulings. She referred to comments by former House majority leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) and Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.) but did not name either man.

Ah, our Liberal masters, ever the champions of free speech-provided they approve of it.

What is it about Liberals and their overseas proclamations? Liberals seem to relish bashing the American people or attacking their rights when they're in other countries. Could it be that they figure the American people won't hear them if they are in countries like South Africa? I mean, I can easily believe they are that traitorous, but are the also that naive? Do they truly believe that what they are saying about our citizens will go unnoticed?

"Darth Vader" Ginsburg, America has more to fear form you than you will ever have to fear from any "irrational fringe." Funny, they (Liberals) never seem to be concerned about inflammatory rhetoric from the Left, only from the Right. Of course it is usually those on the left who are attempting to shout down or stifle comments from the right. If you doubt me, just ask Ann Coulter, Pat Buchannan, or Michelle Malkin.

Those of us on the right are routinely verbally (and sometimes physically) assaulted by the "enlightened, peace-loving, open-minded, diversity promoting, members of the Left. All you have to do to hear their verbal love-taps is read some of the commentary they leave on our websites, or on their own websites such as democraticunderground.com or dailykos.com. Terms like "Hitler" and "Nazi" are routinely used (along side four-letter obscenities) to describe our President and conservatives in Congress or in the media.

The call to hatred is far more prevalent from the Left, than the Right, but Liberals like old "Darth" happily ignore such minor inconveniences as the truth in their rants against the Right.

Full Story: Ignoring the Real Threat to Freedom

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