WASHINGTON — House Majority Leader Tom DeLay intensified his criticism of the federal courts yesterday, singling out Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's work as "incredibly outrageous."

DeLay also said there were a "lot of Republican-appointed judges that are judicial activists."

The No. 2 Republican in the House has criticized federal courts openly since they refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. And he pointed to Kennedy as an example of GOP members of the Supreme Court who were activist and isolated.

"Absolutely. We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."

Kennedy could not be reached for comment.

Although President Reagan appointed Kennedy, he has angered conservatives by sometimes agreeing with the court's more liberal members. Nevertheless, it is unusual for a congressional leader to criticize a justice personally. Dan Allen, a DeLay spokesman, declined comment.

DeLay has been criticized for his comments after Schiavo's death, which came despite Congress' passage of a law giving federal courts jurisdiction to review her case. A U.S. District Court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court declined to intervene.

The House has no power over which judges receive lifetime appointments, but DeLay has called repeatedly for the House to find a way to hold the federal judiciary accountable for its decisions.

"The judiciary has become so activist and so isolated from the American people that it's our job to do that," he said.