Newt Gingrich is known for outrageous outbursts and wild ideas, but he's putting out some really scary stuff this week.
His latest attack is on the independence of the judiciary. Any time a judge issues a ruling that Gingrich doesn't like, he wants to send U.S. Marshals out with congressional subpoenas to haul the judge in front of Congress, where the judge would be grilled by every angry member of Congress who didn't agree with the judge's ruling.
Does that sound like a good way to ensure an independent judiciary?
Next, Newt will simply ignore the law if he becomes president. Under his leadership, the Executive Branch of government will simply ignore the Judicial Branch whenever Newt doesn't like the law.
Yeah, I think I'll do that too – just ignore any laws I don't like. If Newt can do it, why can't I?
And if that isn't enough to destroy the careful balance of powers enshrined in our Constitution, Gingrich wants to simply fire judges and close down courts that consistently issue anti-religious rulings. He'd start with the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals (those well-known liberals!) and a federal judge in Texas who upheld the separation of church and state by banning school-sanctioned prayer in Texas.
Really. He actually said that.
And Gingrich isn't just all talk. For example, he provided $200,000 seed money for a witch hunt that ousted three of the judges who ruled that same-sex marriage is legal.
This may just be Gingrich pandering to Iowa, where conservative Christians reign. But I don't think so. I think this man, if elected president, would embark on a massive campaign to trample civil rights for non-Christians, the LGBT community, and anyone else who he doesn't think is a proper American.
It was bad enough when Gingrich was House Speaker, but this man could theoretically become president.