Newt Gingrich says U.S. ‘courts have become grotesquely dictatorial’

On the campaign trail with Felicia Sonmez

Newt Gingrich has advocated abolishing courts and subpoenaing judges for controversial decisions. And he defended his position in the Iowa debate Tuesday night, pushing back against critics who have said such a move would alter the checks and balances on the three branches of government.
Republican presidential candidates at the Iowa debate. (JIM YOUNG - REUTERS)

“The courts have become grotesquely dictatorial, far too powerful and I think frankly arrogant in their misreading of the American people,” the former House speaker said. “I would, just like [former presidents] Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR, I would be prepared to take on the judiciary [branch of government] if it did not restrict itself in what it was doing.”

Agreeing with Gingrich, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said “if we give to the courts the right to make law than the people will have lost their representation.”

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