Justice Sandra Day O’Connor warned last week that political attacks on the judiciary could lead to dictatorship in the USA

Moreover, she said lawyers have a special obligation to “tune our ears” to the symptoms, and speak out against them — (I’m glad to be doing my part)

[Browse through my Categories of Articles, for much more about the rising tide of authoritarianism within the USA]

Justice O’Connor’s speech occurred Friday March 10, 2006, at Georgetown University.

Here are a few sources for more information:

• National Public Radio coverage of the March 10, 2006 speech by Justice O’Connor.
• NewsBusters - Brad Wilmouth blog. [Extensive report of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann’s coverage of the O’Connor speech]
• The Guardian published an article. Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship
• [UPDATE] Tom Delay’s response to O’Connor’s remarks

EXCERPTS from the Guardian news report:

Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship

She pointed to autocracies in the developing world and former Communist countries as lessons on where interference with the judiciary might lead. “It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.”

Such threats, Ms O’Connor said, “pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedom”, and she told the lawyers in her audience: “I want you to tune your ears to these attacks … You have an obligation to speak up.

“Statutes and constitutions do not protect judicial independence - people do,” the retired supreme court justice said.