WP: Judges Are Seeking Cover on The Bench

[kskiska]

Sunday, June 5, 2005; A01

DANVILLE, Ky. -- An unprotected head, an exposed neck and the top few inches of a judicial robe: That's all that can be seen of Judge Bruce Petrie as he bunkered down on his bullet-resistant judge's bench, panic button within reach, armed bailiffs nearby, taking on the first case of the day.

Two sisters had gotten in a fight, first with words, then with punches.

"Do you believe this is a fair and accurate representation of the injuries you sustained?" Petrie asked one of the sisters as he studied a photograph of some bruises.

It was an utterly routine question -- except this is the year that being a judge has been anything but ordinary. The number of reported threats against judges has been increasing. So have verbal and physical attacks against judges and other court officials, in courthouses and elsewhere. A judge in Atlanta was gunned down in his courtroom. In Florida, the state court judge in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case had to be put under protective guard. In Chicago, the husband and mother of a federal judge were gunned down by a man who had broken into the judge's home to kill her.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060401507.html

[napi21]

1. Several judges testified before a congressional committee.

I watched it on cspan. The Judge from Chicago was one of them. Each of the 10 who testified related incidents of threats, all have guards all the time, similar to the SS, except these are provided by the State Sheriff's depts.

I have to tell ya, I wouldn't want ot be a judge! Makes me wonder why these 10 idiot Shrub nominees are fighting so hard for the job!

[Dover]

2. Because neocon judges are not the ones being targeted.

The anti-law, anti-lawyer, anti-judge trend is all being hyped and planned by the neocons. They won't abide by any law, domestic or international, that they haven't authored or control.

It's really that simple. It's all about control and dismembering the current infrastructure to make it over in their own image.

[Somawas]

4. They are after Appeals Court seats

nothing where they'd have to deal with the great unwashed.

[bemildred]

3. Tsk. Is the "justice" system not working?

Who could have predicted this?
:puke:

[Roland99]

5. Dominionists contracting out hits on "activist" judges?

[TaleWgnDg]

6. Judges, lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries, receptionists,

.
Judges, lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries, receptionists, court "guards," other court personnel, together with women's health clinic and hospital M.D.s, nurses, and many more have been targets for YEARS. That is, those whose professional life touches upon abortion issues. Not only us, directly, but our families as well. The religion-into-law idiots have been targeting us for twenty or more years. And, they have killed and maimed many of us.

However, now, that the rightwingnuts are in power, the religion-into-law nuteroos have expanded their targets to include MORE areas of law.

America is a violent nation. Very. Where else but America is violence committed in the name of Jesus?



.

[ninkasi]

7. I certainly wish for the safety

of anybody having anything to do with the legal system, when it comes to opposition to neocon beliefs. These are scary, demented, dangerous people. Slaughter those you oppose in the name of Jesus?

The real life Jesus would not recognize these nut cases as representing what he was trying to preach. In addition. other, also highly spiritual people, have tried to impress upon humanity the importance of reaching out to the less fortunate, and dismiss the beliefs and actions of our current right wing powers.

Jesus was, granted, a great teacher, and spiritual leader. There have been other highly evolved souls who have given us words of wisdom that we choose to ignore.

I agree that America is a violent nation. That simmering violence is provoked by forces who pit one of us against the other, to the detriment of us both. America will never again be considered free until we have overcome the neocons, the ones who worship corporate power, empire building, and never ending wars.



It is late, and I am going to bed. I pray for a better tomorrow.

[TaleWgnDg]

8. Thank you for your thoughts . . . n/t

[fasttense]

9. Just another sign of the times.

We are looking more and more like a third world country every day. The right wing Christian wackos wont be happy until all judges are ordained ministers.

[dbt]

10. So this is what the Right was harping about in 1968!

Does the DU Geezer Brigade remember the constant chant of "Law and Order" from those days? It was all we heard from the Right Wing, except for "America, Love It Or Leave It."

It became a mindless hum as the syllables melted into each other: Lawnorda! Everything that we undertook on the Left was seen by the right as undermining Lawnorda. They told us over and over and OVER how we had no respect for Lawnorda, how none of us was above the Law, how Lawnorda would put our stupid, commie-pinko-hippie asses back in line real quick. People who turned out by the thousands to protest the Viet Nam "war" were reviled as having no respect for Lawnorda. Skulls were bashed, jail cells were filled, Four Died In Ohio--for Lawnorda.

Fast forward thirty-seven years. The same goose-steppers who preached and screeched all that Lawnorda at us seem utterly bent on tearing it down. And THEY've been in control of the government for MOST of those years!

Go figure.