Evangelicals 'leaders' aim to control courts
Evangelical Christian leaders, who have been working closely with senior Republican lawmakers to place conservative judges in the federal courts, have also been exploring ways to punish sitting jurists and even entire courts viewed as hostile to their cause.
"There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more than one way to take a black robe off the bench," said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, according to an audiotape of a March 17 session. The tape was provided to The Times by the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The leaders present at the March conference, including Perkins and James C. Dobson, founder of the influential group Focus on the Family, have been working with Frist to eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominations, a legislative tool that has allowed Senate Democrats to stall 10 of President Bush's nominations. Frist is scheduled to appear, via a taped statement, during a satellite broadcast to churches nationwide Sunday that the Family Research Council has organized to build support for the Bush nominees.
I use the word leaders in quotes above intentionally, as Perkins isn't really a leader and Dobson is more an example of how religious fundamentalists are highjacking the more broad Evangelical movement.
But these two have the power to be dangerous with a White House and Congress that listen to them. They are talking about options far more radical then even the nuclear option facing congress right now. They want Congress to simply disolve courts that don't take the 'correct' posistion.
Jay
