WASHINGTON – Senator Schumer yesterday condemned a suggestion by the House majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay, that Congress examine whether judges could be removed from the bench for their interpretations of the constitution.

The proposal is an “abuse of power” and an attempt to subvert the independence of the judiciary by “making it easier to impeach judges that render decisions politicians may disagree with,” Mr. Schumer said. “We are seeing in the air the abuse of power, the arrogance that says, ‘If you don’t agree with me, I am going to change the rules and do whatever I want.'”

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, has not decided whether to hold such an inquiry, said his spokesman, Jeff Lungren. “Judges are impeached for bad behavior; they are not impeached for bad opinions,” said Mr. Lungren. “But we are continuing to do oversight of the judiciary.”

Several Republican members of the committee echoed Mr. DeLay in saying the subject of what constitutes “good behavior” by judges deserves hearings. The Constitution grants federal judges lifetime appointments on the condition of “good behavior.”

“I think it’s absolutely critical that we have a national discussion led by Congress about the appropriate role of judges,” said a committee member, Rep. Tom Feeney, a Republican of Florida.

Bad behavior is not necessarily limited to activities off the bench, he said.

“Suppose a judge announced they didn’t believe the Constitution was the supreme law, that judge may not be in good behavior, even if he is not drunk or has not committed a crime,” he said.

Mr. Feeney said he would not support the impeachment of judges simply for reaching decisions he did not agree with. However, he said, “There is a lot of support for determining how judges are arriving at their decisions, and whether they are deliberately ignoring the supremacy of the Constitution and substituting something other,” he said, referring to foreign legal judgments referred to in some recent court opinions.

Another committee member, Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, also supports the hearings and has said judges can be removed for their decisions. “As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I will not allow a federal judge to ignore federal law without consequence,” he said after a succession of federal judges declined to order a brain-damaged Florida woman, Theresa Schiavo, kept alive despite congressional intervention. “If a judge refuses to follow the law, he is no longer just and impartial and must be removed from office,” he said.

Mr. DeLay told Fox News Radio on Tuesday that judges were interpreting the law in unacceptable ways, and the House should review their behavior.

He singled out Justice Kennedy for particular scorn. The Reagan appointee authored several decisions that have roiled conservatives, including an opinion striking down a law against homosexual sodomy and an opinion striking down the juvenile death penalty. Both those rulings included references to decisions of foreign courts.

“We’ve got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States,” Mr. DeLay said in the interview. “That’s just outrageous, and not only that, he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet. That is just incredibly outrageous.”

Mr. DeLay said the Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the clause in the Constitution that says “judges can serve as long as they serve with good behavior. “We want to define what good behavior means. That’s where you have to start,” he said.

The senior Democrat on the House subcommittee on the Constitution, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of Manhattan, called the proposed hearings “a radical proposal.”

“In a profound sense, it’s un-American,” Mr. Nadler said. “We have the separation of powers. It is the job of Congress to enact the laws, and the job of the judiciary to say what the Constitution means. If we don’t like their interpretation, we can change the law or amend the Constitution,” he said.

Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat of Massachusetts, joined Mr. Schumer in a press conference yesterday to denounce the proposal.

“We have remedies for bad decisions. It’s called the appeals process,” he said.

Mr. Schumer said he is no fan of foreign jurisprudence and institutions such as the International Court of Justice, but he does not share Mr. DeLay’s concerns about the court’s reference to cases from other countries.

“For the sake of America, I hope Tom DeLay stops this campaign,” Mr. Schumer said. “For the sake of Democrats, it’s not so bad if he continues, because the public, when they smell that whiff of abuse of power, … automatically go to the other side.”