Treason?

Here's a choice quote from DeLay in an L.A. Times article published today:

"We set up the courts. We can unset the courts. We have the power of the purse,"

I highly recommend reading the entire article, as well as some of the highlights and commentary over at this kos diary. Here's some more quotes:

Claiming a role by the movement in the GOP gains, Dobson concluded: "We've got a right to hold them accountable for what happens here."

We need to shake these guys up," Perkins said.

Said Dobson: "Sometimes it's just amazing to me that they seem to forget how they got here."

I would like to think that these guys are harmless and merely banging their too thick heads against a concrete wall full of rusty spikes, but you cannot deny that now they have come to collect on the deal the GOP leadership brokered with them. If the GOP delivers then there will be mass outrage in the country. If the GOP does not deliver then neither will the evangelicals anymore. While some people I have spoken to like to rest assured that the GOP will not deliver on its promises, I think if you look at people like Frist and DeLay you will see signs of them trying to do just that. Their desires are only mitigated by what is politically expedient for them to do.

But back to the other point I wanted to discuss, the U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 1, says:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

This does not mean it is impossible to go through with Dobson's suggestion that

"Very few people know this, that the Congress can simply disenfranchise a court," Dobson said. "They don't have to fire anybody or impeach them or go through that battle. All they have to do is say the 9th Circuit doesn't exist anymore, and it's gone."

Yes, if Congress ever did something like this I think it would cease to have any credibility, but I suppose it is legal. However, the Constitution's language that states that the judges compensation will not be diminished seems to completely run contrary to DeLay's statement above that Congress controls the purse strings of the judiciary. If he is seriously threatening to undo the Constitution and therefore is waging war on this country, how can he not be found guilty of treason?