"Lawmaker Backs Federal Judiciary Watchdog"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner urged Congress on Monday to create a government watchdog for the federal judiciary, but he also said lawmakers should ignore conservative calls to weaken courts because of federal judges' decisions during the Terri Schiavo case.

"While I vociferously disagree with the federal judiciary's handling of this case, that does not mean that Congress should respond by attempting to neuter the courts," Sensenbrenner said in prepared remarks for a speech at Stanford University.

Several conservatives outside and inside Congress have urged lawmakers to look into possibly cutting money from courts that have made decisions they disagree with, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. "We set up the courts. We can unset the courts. We have the power of the purse," DeLay said last month.

The federal courts refused to order the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube, and the brain-damaged Florida woman died March 31. That set off a firestorm of conservative criticism against the federal benches.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050510/D8A01L500.html