Two more editorials assailing Sensenbrenner’s letters

This morning brings two more editorials criticizing the remarkable letters that House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner wrote to the Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit and to AG Alberto Gonzales concerning the decision in US v. Rivera (background here, commentary here and here and collected here):

• The Washington Post, in this editorial, calls Sensenbrenner’s letter to the Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit “an action unbefitting any member of Congress” and “an intolerable affront to the independence of the courts.”

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in this editorial, highlights that the letter “speaks to the influence members of Congress can exert on the judiciary, particularly if the intervening member of Congress chairs the committee that holds the federal judiciary’s purse strings.”