An Independent Judiciary

AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY -- (House of Representatives - April 20, 2005)

(Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, over in Baghdad, we are attempting to establish a democracy which will require an independent judiciary. Iraqis will learn that to have a society of laws, you need an independent judiciary to enforce them. But here in Washington, D.C., we have a majority leader who is attempting to demagogue and abuse the independence of our American judicial system, to intimidate them to one particular ideological position.

This is undemocratic, it is unhealthy, and it does not respect the democratic traditions that require an independent judiciary in this country. It is a case of an abuse of power and it needs to stop.

We see today in the energy bill a provision to ignore the independence of the law to give immunity to a polluter. We need the majority leader of the U.S. House to understand that our freedoms come from an independent judiciary. The freedom of speech, the freedom of religion that would be taken away in one single moment from the U.S. Congress stands because of an independent judiciary.

This arrogance and abuse of power needs to stop.

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