What should be done about Sensenbrenner’s letter?

Thanks to Howard at How Appealing, I see this interesting item from The Hill reporting that “Democrats yesterday were considering a response to a news report that House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) chastised the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago for giving a drug courier what he considered to be a light sentence.”  The background on Sensenbrenner’s actions and his startling five-page missive to the Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit are detailed in this fascinating front page article from Sunday’s Chicago Tribune, which I discussed in this post.

The Hill story indicates that an “approach Democrats were considering was to ask the ethics committee … to review the letter.”  Interestingly, a commentor here asks whether Sensenbrenner’s letter might qualify as an “ex parte communication that would subject a lawyer to discipline by the state bar as well.”