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Where’s Judge Dredd when you need him?
Justice at Stake, an organization that’s been around since 2002, has a stated goal of wanting “to educate the public and work for reforms to keep politics and special interests out of the courtroom.” Recently, the group’s executive director (Bert Brandenburg) published a compelling piece on Slate.com about the potential erosion of judicial independence. In Bench-Clearing Brawl, Brandenburg discusses some fall ballot initiatives (in states such as Colorado, Montana, Oregon and South Dakota) which could have serious impacts on the state judiciaries’ ability to properly do their job. Brandenburg is calling the judges and their supporters to essentially rise up to protect judicial independence.
I’m not sure that I agree with all of Brandenberg’s statements or assessments, but I do agree with the underlying principle that there’s a need for our courts to retain their independence from increasingly muddy politics and wind-of-the-day mentalities. The idea that a judge could, or should, be recalled or punished or thrown off of the bench at a spur of the moment because of one “rogue” or unpopular decision is a little scary. I’m not saying, nor is Brandenburg, that there shouldn’t be judicial accountability (although, let’s not forget that the Supremes have virtually no such accountability). But I do think that our system only works if judges know that they, themselves, are being judged and assessed based on their total voting record, and not any one decision, statement or action. And yes, I recognize that this is a somewhat idealistic and naive viewpoint, since the same can be said about politicians and we know that’s about as likely as my induction into the football Hall of Fame - but with some work, I think it is possible to get close-to-the-ideal with the judiciary, in a way we’ll never truly see with the executive or legislature.
Anyway, the point of this entry isn’t to preach or to particularly convince you one way or the other. Rather, I just think many folks forget this important branch of our governing system and don’t know as much about it as they should.
