Newt Gingrich has decided that the president is the law:
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Gingrich suggested the president could send federal law enforcement authorities to arrest judges who make controversial rulings in order to compel them to justify their decisions before congressional hearings.
When asked by host Bob Schieffer how he would force federal judges to comply with congressional subpoenas, Gingrich said he would send the U.S. Capitol Police or U.S. Marshals to arrest the judges and force them to testify.
So if Newt gets elected he will become the supreme judge in the United States. Tremble he who hath rule against the wishes of Newt for he will be collected and forced to answer for his actions. If Newt’s position doesn’t scream dictator I’m not sure what does.
The idea of having three branches of government was to prevent any one branch of obtaining supreme power. Obviously that has failed but to this day the courts have remained somewhat autonomous. Judge’s rulings are seldom the final word as decisions can be appealed to higher courts. Ultimately a case can make its way to the Supreme Court where a final decision will be made but a judge is never supposed to be under threat of violence for ruling “the wrong way.”
This action is no different than threatening jury members with punishment for ruling in a way opposed to the views of the state. At such a point the entire idea behind a jury trial is lost because juries no longer base their decision on whether or not they feel a crime has been committed but on whether or not they will be punished for the decision. If judges can be rounded up and force to justify their decisions then they to will make their decisions based upon whether or not it will lead to their punishment instead of whether or not they believe a crime has been committed.
In the end this is one of the most dangerous ideas a presidential wannabe could conjure up. It’s obvious if Newt became the president he would work fast to remove the few remaining constraints that prevent the Office of the President from being Supreme Dictator.