My colleague Mark Murakami has posted a summary of a recent speech by US Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer on hawaiioceanlaw.com:
So, what is judicial independence? He said that every judge knowswhat it means, some lawyers do, and, for the most part, most people inthe public had no idea. So, is there a problem with judicialindependence, he asked.
He thought there was. The signs of a problem: 1) elected judgesbeing forced to raise campaign funds to be re-elected; 2) stateinitiatives to punish judges for their decisions (citing South Dakotaand Colorado); and 3) a disturbing trend in public opinion pollssuggesting that more Americans believe judges make decisions, not basedon what the law says, but what they personally want to do.
Read his entire post here.