Senate Asked to Condemn Jurist Disrespect

[jefferson_dem]

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

A federal judge whose family was murdered asked the Senate on Wednesday to condemn harsh remarks about the judiciary by commentators such as evangelist Pat Robertson and members of Congress, saying their words could spark more violence.

"Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or on the fringe, to exact revenge on a judge who displeases them," U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Her husband and mother were slain in the couple's Chicago home in February. Bart Ross, a 57-year-old unemployed electrician from Chicago, committed suicide in suburban Milwaukee in March after leaving a note confessing to the murders. He had been angered when Lefkow dismissed a malpractice suit he had filed, authorities said.

<SNIP>

Congress should "publicly and persistently repudiate gratuitous attacks on the judiciary" that have occurred in the days since after the Terri Schiavo case, Lefkow told the hearing on courthouse security.

<SNIP>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050518/ap_on_go_co/courthouse_security&printer=1

[FloridaPat]

1. But the edge of the fringe is running the country!

And I'm sure appointing fringe judges will really stop fostering disrespect for judges.

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Cornyn and DeLay and MISTER Frist

would have to keep civil tongues.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Kick - wish the AP story had the heading CBS gave it

Probably would've gotten more reaction here on DU.

CBS headline Terrorized Judge Talks Tough

The federal judge whose family was murdered asked the Senate on Wednesday to condemn "gratuitous attacks on the judiciary" by commentators such as evangelist Pat Robertson and members of Congress such as Tom DeLay, saying their words could spark more violence.

"Fostering disrespect for judges can only encourage those that are on the edge, or on the fringe, to exact revenge on a judge who displeases them," U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Not only was her family murdered, but Lefkow said she faces public harassment, reports CBS' Mike Parker.

"As recently as last Friday, which was May 13, I was spotted and harassed in a restaurant in downtown Chicago," Lefkow said. "Had that harasser come back rather than left a nasty sign and had a gun, then obviously I wouldn't be here today."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/18/national/main696186_page2.shtml