WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) called on Washington Democrats to stop their dangerous rhetoric targeting federal judges, including U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“Over the last several years, Washington Democrats have waged war on our independent federal judiciary.”

“The top Democrat in the United States Senate threatened two sitting Supreme Court justices by name based on a case they were considering. In the years since, the radical left has picked up the sword and carried on the fight.”

“With no real repercussions for such gross behavior, the far left has now expanded its attack to include other federal judges.”

“These are federal judges who are given life tenure, following Senate confirmation, for the very purpose of making them insulated from politics, so that they can remain laser-focused on judging the law, and interpreting the Constitution, and applying it to the case before them.” 

“As our country struggles to deal with hate speech online and threats of violence against our leaders and politicians, it’s hard to imagine anything getting more dangerous than the rhetoric targeting federal judges and the independent federal judiciary.”

“Blatant attacks against judges and our independent judiciary must come to an end.”

“The left’s attack on our independent judiciary just keeps getting more and more dangerous. It doesn’t matter what case is in a federal court or what ruling is ultimately handed down.”

“Judicial independence is the thing that distinguishes our democracy and our Constitution from all other countries on the planet. Judicial independence – judges who aren’t afraid to call balls and strikes, and interpret the Constitution hopefully as written and apply the laws that Congress passes. That judicial independence should never be threatened.”