Newt Gingrich’s attacks on the independence of the judiciary must be taken seriously. Gingrich is running neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney in the polls. He very possibly could be the Republican nominee. He could, therefore, become president.
The prospect of a President Gingrich declaring that he will ignore a Supreme Court ruling is all too real. That he would call for the impeachment of a Supreme Court justice or a federal judge and declare all elected branches of government superior to the courts is as possible as it is frightening.
Michael B. Mukasey, who was attorney general under President George W. Bush, said Gingrich “ . . . Would lead us to become a banana republic, in which administrations would become regimes, and each regime would feel it perfectly appropriate to disregard decisions of courts staffed by previous regimes. That’s not what we are.”
No, it isn’t. And what’s going on in our nation’s capital these days should make every American grateful for the wisdom of the founding fathers. The judiciary is the stabilizing branch of government which, being independent of partisan politics, keeps the nation faithful to the constitution and tied tightly to the rule of law.
Gingrich doesn’t accept the concept. As president, he would see himself superior to the judiciary and, by extension, not bound by the rule of law.
This should come as no surprise. Newt Gingrich compares himself to Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle — when he’s feeling modest. He really can’t accept a President Gingrich being subject to a court.
This imperious attitude could be dismissed as pompous nonsense if it were not for the bizarre possibility that there really might be a President Gingrich, come November.
So, pay attention. Look him up. Read what he wants to do with and to this precious country of ours. Be truly afraid.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
