Lefkow blasts anti-judge rhetoric

WASHINGTON -- U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow, whose husband and mother were shot by a man who probably wanted to kill her, too, came out of seclusion Wednesday to say that "harsh rhetoric'' about judges from evangelist Pat Robertson and lawmakers must be renounced.

Members of Congress need to "publicly and persistently repudiate gratuitous attacks on the judiciary,'' Lefkow told the Senate Judiciary Committee. snip

"I have come to know scores of judges during my 22 years as a magistrate judge, bankruptcy judge and district judge. Whether a liberal or conservative, I have never encountered a judge in the federal judiciary who can remotely be described as posing a threat, as Mr. Robertson said, probably 'more serious than a few bearded terrorist who fly into buildings.' ''

Referring to liberal judges in a May 1 interview on ABC's "This Week,'' Robertson, a conservative activist, said that "if you look over the course of a hundred years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings.''

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