Newt previewing his plans to oust activist judges

From Kathie Obradovich of the Des Moines Register

Newt Gingrich plans on Friday to shed a bit more light on his pledge in the “21st Century Contract with America” to get rid of activist judges.

In a phone interview today, he said he’ll release a paper on Friday that delves into what he considers the founding fathers’ intention that the president and Congress could oust errant judges. He’s also scheduled to speak Friday at the Values Voters summit in Washington, D.C.

“I think it will be one of the more important speeches of the campaign because it is establishing a discussion about the Constitution and the courts in the way it has not been done in probably 100 years,” he said.

He said he’ll detail an idea that he attributes to Alexander Hamilton, that the president and Congress can simply abolish courts to get rid of judges who trample on American values.

He said he had been thinking about the issue ever since the 9th Circuit Court ruled in 2002 that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance were unconstitutional. He described the ruling as anti-religion and anti-American.

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He said Americans can use the existing constitutional powers of the two elected branches to correct the court.

He said he envisions Congress being able to call a judge before a congressional hearing to explain the reasoning behind a ruling. “And if it’s not satisfactory, the second step would be to abolish his court. Zero it out in the appropriations bill,” Gingrich said. He said a new court could be created and a new judge appointed.

“You don’t have to go through an impeachment. You can just say this guy shouldn’t be a judge,” he said.