Tom Delay condemns judges upholding Constitution; Kennedy calls delay remarks "reprehensible": Facing reporters in Houston, DeLay left no doubt he is ready to turn the Schiavo case into an assault on the judiciary.
POLITICAL REACTION
DeLay blames judicial system, promises new legislation
Sen. Kennedy calls Republican leader's words 'reprehensible'
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, April 1, 2005
Washington -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay turned up the heat on an already intense situation Thursday when he blamed Terri Schiavo's death on a judicial system that "did not protect the people."
At a press conference in Houston, the Texas Republican attacked "an arrogant, out of control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at the Congress and the president'' by refusing to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.
DeLay and other conservative leaders promised to seek legislation to deal with right-to-die issues. Asked if he might back the House starting impeachment proceedings against the judges involved in the Schiavo case, DeLay said, "There's plenty of time to look into that."
"I never thought I'd see the day when a U.S. judge stopped feeding a living American so that they took 14 days to die," he added.
DeLay's comments were immediately attacked as "irresponsible and reprehensible" by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
President Bush, who had rushed back from his Crawford, Texas, ranch on Palm Sunday to sign an extraordinary bill that tried unsuccessfully to get the federal courts to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, didn't commit to supporting any new legislation. In a statement, he urged the nation "to continue to work to build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others.''
In refusing to drop the Schiavo matter in the face of polls showing widespread public opposition to the involvement of Bush and Congress over the past two weeks, Republican leaders risk alienating voters who have given the GOP control of both houses of Congress and the White House.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that while Republican leaders like DeLay might curry favor with conservative religious blocs who have made the Schiavo case a top cause, they risk alienating traditional GOP constituencies.
"Most sensible members of the Republican caucus are now gun-shy on this issue, as they should be,'' he said. "But that doesn't mean that DeLay and others won't insist on moving ahead, although they'd be foolish to do it. ... Whatever happened to the age-old Republican principle of federalism?"
Beyond the political fallout, most observers expect furious battles in the coming months over judicial appointments, particularly if a Supreme Count vacancy must be filled.
Federal courts didn't act as the lawmakers hoped. On Wednesday, for example, Judge Stanley Birch Jr., a conservative appointed by the former President George H. W. Bush, wrote a rebuke of Bush and Congress. He said the action by the White House and lawmakers was "demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people -- our Constitution."
Facing reporters in Houston, DeLay left no doubt he is ready to turn the Schiavo case into an assault on the judiciary. |
