“Congress has a lot to do with what’s going on in the judiciary,” says former Alaska Governor and VP candidate Sarah Palin in the video below. “Congress can’t keep sitting back, especially Republicans in the majority, they can’t sit back and just let all of this happen because it is dismantling of our traditional judicial system.”
Palin: It is dismantling of our traditional judicial system where Lady— Lady Liberty and Lady Justice used to be blind, right? pic.twitter.com/ic1uZ4kGwO
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 6, 2023
Not all Republicans are sitting back, of course, when it comes to letting “all of this happen” — Palin speaks of what the MAGA world refers to as the politicization (or so-called weaponization) of the DOJ and other prosecutorial entities, like the judicial branch of the state government of Georgia. Rep. James Comer, for instance, chairs a House Oversight Committee that has been relentless in pursuing accusations of wrongdoing at the DOJ and the FBI, as well as in the executive branch.
Stumbling on her words a bit, Palin says “Lady Liberty and Lady Justice used to be blind, right, and politics are not…shouldn’t have anything to do with this.” She wants congressional members who are sitting on their hands to rein in Justice and make it blind again.
(Note: Palin calls for justice to be blind to political influence, whereas her critics on the Left believe what she really wants is for the judicial system to turn a blind eye to GOP crimes.)
It sounds as if Palin, by advocating for legislative intervention, is calling for a breach in the vaunted checks and balances system that gives the three branches of government independence and autonomy. But her call actually emphasizes the interactive roles — for better or worse — that the branches play in connection with each other.
In pushing for Congress’s ability to legislate the standards and practices of the justice system, Palin here essentially agrees with Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who asserts that Congress can require the judiciary to comply with mandates about ethics and procedural matters. Whitehouse is pushing for the Supreme Court to be held accountable, in a way it presently isn’t, to standards dictated by lawmakers.
