Chron Editorial Board member James Gibbons ripped John Culberson a new one yesterday over his Metro meddling. It's a joy to read. Here's a taste:

U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Katy considers himself a latter-day Jeffersonian. Judging by Culberson's conduct and character, one must conclude that the Age of Enlightenment has definitely run its course.

During his long career in the Texas Legislature, Culberson devoted himself to two propositions: 1. The Legislature should be free to specify an inadequate and grotesquely unequal system of public school finance; and 2. The courts should have no power to stop cruel and barbarous treatment of prisoners in Texas penitentiaries.

Fortunately, Culberson met with limited success. State courts commanded the Legislature to provide a school finance system that narrows the divide between rich and poor. Also, thanks to a federal court order, Texas prison wardens may no longer hand out clubs to some inmates to be used on others, who would then be denied medical attention.

Culberson, based on an imaginatively skewed reading of Thomas Jefferson's writings, apparently believes legislative sovereignty should trump constitutional protections. If Jefferson put much faith in that precept, he did not advertise it.