Despite the seemingly self-evident need for judicial independence, a recent upsurge in attacks upon both the individual judge and the entire judiciary has illustrated that the general public is largely uninformed and often ungrateful of the service provided by the court. The judiciary must provide a defense against attempts to usurp judicial independence through inappropriate controls and the dissemination of information that fosters distrust, misunderstanding, and apathy towards the function of the court. . . . Both individual federal and state judges have increasingly been the targets of "vitriolic ad hominem attacks" for their individual decisions in individual cases. . . .Eugene Volokh has a good post about the outrageousness of this opinion. No doubt Congress would also favor laws making it illegal to publicize how Congressmen vote on bills, since that allows ordinary citizens, unelected and without any authority, to criticize Congressmen who are just doing their jobs. But we don't let Congressmen immunize themselves from criticism, and we shouldn't immunize judges either. It is clear that judges hate the sentencing guidelines, because they want to go easier on crime than the voters or Congress. Just because judges want to go easy on crime, though, and, like ordinary criminals, dislike following the laws duly passed by the legislative branch, does not mean the rest of us should let them get away with it.
[in full at 04.02.11b.htm . Erasmusen@yahoo.com. ]
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