THE WRONG WATCH LIST

John Ashcroft is having trouble making cases against alleged
terrorists. So he's decided to make cases against federal judges.

Under past attorneys general, prosecutors reported to the Justice
Department when a judge gave a sentence that was less than recommended
under federal guidelines but did so only when the government wanted to
appeal. As The Wall Street Journal reported, however, this attorney
general last month ordered prosecutors to report all so-called
"downward departure" decisions on sentencing.

Expect next that the Justice Department will target certain judges
whose rulings it doesn't like, even when a judge simply may believe
that putting a drug user in prison for 10 years doesn't make the
country safer. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom Ronald
Reagan put on the court, said last week that he believes sentencing
guidelines are too strict in some cases.

Mr. Ashcroft's watch list is only the latest attack on judicial
independence by the Justice Department and Congress. In April, an
amendment written by Justice lawyers and sponsored by Rep. Tom Feeney,
R-Oviedo, former speaker of the Florida House, reduced judges' ability
to give lesser sentences and made it easier for the government to
appeal sentencing decisions. The House also passed an amendment that
would deny federal money for defense of court decisions that cut the
words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and ordered Alabama
Chief Justice Roy Moore to remove a monument with the Ten Commandments
on it from the Alabama courthouse. Other conservative lawmakers have
formed the House Working Group on Judicial Accountability.

Whatever one thinks of the federal courts' rulings, the country would
be threatened if the courts became a subsidiary of Congress rather
than the separate branch of government the Constitution intended. The
First Commandment explains why Justice Moore's action violates the
First Amendment.

Most of Mr. Ashcroft's high-profile terror suspects have not been
convicted. He should go after those cases, not the
Constitution.