Senator John Cornyn

John Cornyn (born February 2, 1952) is the junior United States Senator from Texas. He was elected to his first term in 2002. He is a Republican. He defeated his United States Democratic Party opponent, Ron Kirk, who would have been the only African American in the Senate in 2003.

A graduate of Trinity University and St. Mary's School of Law, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cornyn also earned a Masters of Law from the University of Virginia Law School in 1995.

After serving six years as a District Court Judge in San Antonio, Texas, he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990 and re-elected in 1996. He resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 1997 to run for Attorney General. When elected, he became the first Republican to win the position since Reconstruction. He has now left this position to become a member of the United States Senate.

Court violence controversy

He produced controversy in the wake of several high-profile violent crimes and death threats against judges when he stated on the floor of the US Senate on April 4, 2005, that "raw political or ideological decisions" by judges cause "great distress" in many people and wondered aloud if this "distress" was the cause of the violence.

I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence.

Cornyn's opponents argued that this amounted to rationalizing violence against judges if their decisions were unpopular with the public. His remarks came shortly after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said that "the men responsible [for Terri Schiavo's death] will have "to answer to their behavior." Liberals like Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way argued that both comments "are irresponsible and could be seen by some as justifying inexcusable conduct against our courts."[1]

Cornyn later retracted the remarks, arguing that they were taken out of context.[2] He argued that as a former judge himself, he was "outraged" by recent acts of violence against judges and undercut his original statement by saying "I'm not aware of any evidence whatsoever linking recent acts of courthouse violence to the various controversial rulings that have captured the nation’s attention in recent years."

External links

• U.S. Senate: John Cornyn
• opensecrets.org: 2004 PAC contributions to John Cornyn