[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 48 (Wednesday, April 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2153-H2154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY

  (Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, over in Baghdad, we are attempting to 
establish a democracy which will require an

[[Page H2154]]

independent judiciary. Iraqis will learn that to have a society of 
laws, you need an independent judiciary to enforce them. But here in 
Washington, D.C., we have a majority leader who is attempting to 
demagogue and abuse the independence of our American judicial system, 
to intimidate them to one particular ideological position.
  This is undemocratic, it is unhealthy, and it does not respect the 
democratic traditions that require an independent judiciary in this 
country. It is a case of an abuse of power and it needs to stop.
  We see today in the energy bill a provision to ignore the 
independence of the law to give immunity to a polluter. We need the 
majority leader of the U.S. House to understand that our freedoms come 
from an independent judiciary. The freedom of speech, the freedom of 
religion that would be taken away in one single moment from the U.S. 
Congress stands because of an independent judiciary.
  This arrogance and abuse of power needs to stop.

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