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Sunday, May 29, 2005

A Question for Tom DeLay...


By now, many people have heard or read about reaction to the mention of his name on the TV show, Law and Order.  In other DeLay news, NYT informs us that "Judge Rules Group Tied to DeLay Violated Election Law."  The Red State blog has the latest on that.  

Getting back to the Laws and Order flap, which is more interesting,
During the episode, a police officer stymied for leads jokes to his partner, "Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt."
it turns out that even the loyal Fox News has covered it.  A blog, The Stakeholder, provides us with a copy of DeLay's response.  An excerpt follows:  
"I can only assume last night's slur was in response to comments I have made in the past about the need for Congress to closely monitor the federal judiciary, as prescribed in our constitutional system of checks and balances."
Mr. DeLay knows perfectly well that they were referring to a comment he had made about federal judges who had rendered a judgment that he disagreed with.  He said "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."  That comment was played up as a veiled threat.  

What got my attention, though, was DeLay's reference to "the constitutional system of checks and balances."  He says the constitutional system calls for Congress to closely monitor the federal judiciary.  I'm not sure what the constitutional system is.  I do know that the Constitution itself says no such thing.  I read it, twice, just to be sure.  The constitutional check on judicial authority is the Senate's role of advice and consent regarding nominations to the federal courts.  There is no constitutional provision for Congress to closely monitor the judiciary.  

So the question for Mr. DeLay is this: what Constitution are you following?  

Did he write his own?  If so, is he planning to share it with us anytime soon?