Tom DeLay vs. the World Wide Web

The Hammer says it's "incredibly outrageous" that Anthony Kennedy does research on the internet.

Published April 20, 2005 1:14PM (EDT)

OK, so we know that Tom DeLay isn't all that fond of crazy activist judges like, say, the seven Republican appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court who went along with the "murder" of Terri Schiavo. And we know that DeLay is particularly unhappy with Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy for his votes to uphold Roe v. Wade, to end the execution of juveniles and to overturn laws banning private, consensual sex among men.

But what we didn't know is that DeLay was outraged by the fact that Kennedy uses . . . the internet. As the Associated Press notes, DeLay said during a TV interview Tuesday: "We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous. And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."

We're not sure we understand what's got the Hammer all hot and bothered. Maybe he thinks Kennedy is spending time at certain kinds of Web sites that aren't exactly Westlaw. Or maybe it's an objection to the internet more generally: When you and your political allies want to roll back the cultural clock to some earlier, darker day, the World Wide Web probably isn't something that sits right with you. If that's the case, we've got a tip for the house majority leader, and it's something he'll want to get on right away. We hear that, when Sandra Day O'Connor does her legal research, she actually reads under the light of an incandescent bulb.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

MORE FROM Tim Grieve


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Tom Delay War Room