COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 6, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson is stepping up efforts to alert his constituents to the dangers of judicial tyranny, devoting his April newsletter to spotlighting how badly unbalanced the Founding Fathers’ system of governmental checks and balances has become.
Dobson documents in detail what he calls the “heady abuse of power that is all too common among independent fiefdoms known as judges,” noting that Thomas Jefferson spoke prophetically when he repeatedly warned that an out-of-control judiciary would threaten not only the soundness of the Constitution but the stability of the country itself.
“It is a very dangerous doctrine to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions,” Dobson quotes Jefferson as saying. “It is one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”
Calling the recent court-ordered starvation and dehydration death of Terri Schiavo “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history,” Dobson notes other recent court decisions that spotlight the judicial crisis facing America:
—A U.S. District Court judge declares federal obscenity statutes unconstitutional in dismissing a case against hardcore pornographers who distribute sex videos depicting rape, mutilation, defecation and the murder of women. In so doing, he declared that “upholding the public sense of morality is not even a legitimate state interest that can justify infringing one’s liberty interest to engage in consensual sexual conduct in private.”
Dobson goes on to stress that restoring the constitutional balance of powers by reining in the courts is the key cultural and political battle facing pro-family Americans. He specifically notes the necessity of ending Democrat-led filibusters that have kept President Bush’s judicial nominees from even receiving up- or-down votes in the Senate.
“The nomination and confirmation of federal court judges represents a critical moment in the history of our nation,” Dobson writes, “as well as a monumental opportunity for men and women of faith and others in the pro-family movement to stand up and make their voices heard.”
Dobson goes on to single out 20 senators who need to hear from constituents—13 Democrats who have led the filibuster charge and seven Republicans he describes as “squishy” on their party’s efforts to affirm Senate tradition by restoring the 51-vote majority needed to confirm judicial nominees.