[joesnuffy]

The 'ruling class' have made themselves King...making the English chuckle no doubt.

No longer do they consider themselves servants of 'we the people'...or the Constitution and Bill of Rights binding agreements upon themselves acting as Government..

This is a betrayal of their fundamental duties...they should be arrested and charged...

So why aren't they...?

RSR is a wholesale only business with security like Ft. Knox...No One gets in there unless they are a dealer with current up to date inscrutable paperwork and have the management's permission...and even then it is only to a secure area
the weapons are kept in an adjacent warehouse out of site and reach...

I would venture to guess that the federal Govt has lost more weapons that have found their way into criminal hands than RSR has ever sold weapons that ended up in criminal hands..

I hope this has a silver lining but after the Specter debacle and the Senate Judiciary committee members who promised to listen to their constituents then ignored them...and Justice Rhenquist's (the most conservative justices remarks)..I am not holding my breathe waiting for a favorable outcome


January 1, 2005

WASHINGTON — Ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said today that judges must be protected from political threats, including from
conservative Republicans who maintain that "judicial activists" should be impeached and removed from office.

"The Constitution protects judicial independence not to benefit judges, but to promote the rule of law: Judges are expected to
administer the law fairly, without regard to public reaction," the chief justice, whose future on the court is subject to wide speculation,
said in his traditional year-end report on the federal courts.

The public, the press and politicians are certainly free to criticize judges, Rehnquist said, but politicians cross the line when they try to
punish or impeach judges for decisions they do not agree with.

[Maelstrom]

WASHINGTON — Ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said today that judges must be protected from political threats, including from conservative Republicans who maintain that "judicial activists" should be impeached and removed from office.

((snip))

The public, the press and politicians are certainly free to criticize judges, Rehnquist said, but politicians cross the line when they try to punish or impeach judges for decisions they do not agree with.

I wish I could ask Rehnquist...at what point do judges cross the line...and what accountability would he, as King of America, graciously extend to the people for redress of this grievance?

[MineralMan]

"The public, the press and politicians are certainly free to criticize judges, Rehnquist said, but politicians cross the line when they try to
punish or impeach judges for decisions they do not agree with."

He's right, at least in a historical sense. Judges are appointed to life terms for the very reason that they are not subject to the blowing of political winds. Impeachment of SCOTUS justices, at least, is not something Congress takes lightly, even though they have that power.

Right now, the SCOTUS is leaning leftwards, despite some decisions that the right has applauded. Tomorrow, they may be leaning rightwards, depending on appointments made by President Bush.

And there's the problem with removing justices at will. Any Congress could impeach and remove the entire SCOTUS, if they had the guts for it. But that would remove the continuity of the court and make it a plaything for whichever party was in power. Right now, it's the Republicans. In two years, it could easily be the Democrats, depending on what happens in the country and outside of it.

I don't think we want to see a see-sawing federal judiciary. Continuity is important.