Threats to judicial independence of deep concern to Justices, constitutional experts

The ABA and International Bar Association's Rule of Law Symposium held last month featured a program titled "The Rule of Law and An Independent Judiciary," in which several judges spoke to such issues as the indicators of an independent judiciary, protecting judges when their independence is being infringed upon, and whether judges are more likely to be "independent" if they are appointed versus elected.

In recent weeks, several Supreme Court Justices and other constitutional experts have ardently spoken out as advocates for judicial independence. "In my lifetime, I have not seen so much criticism of judges, and it comes about both at the federal level and at the state level," said retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in an interview with PBS reporter Gwen Ifill. Justice Stephen G. Breyer joined O'Connor on the September 26 show. Breyer and O'Connor also served as co-chairs of a Georgetown University Law School and American Law Institute-sponsored conference on judicial independence, "A Conference on the State of the Judiciary." ABA President Karen Mathis attended the Sept. 28-29 conference.

Also speaking at the Georgetown event were Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Roberts said he believes that attacks on the judiciary are bipartisan, and that in order to ward off such attacks judges must utilize self restraint in their decision making, "Judges are insulated from political pressure precisely because they are not supposed to be making political decisions but deciding cases according to the rule of law," he stressed.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. echoed those sentiments in a recent speech at the Mineola, N.Y., headquarters of the Nassau County Bar Association, saying, "I probably don't need to convince the people in this room how important it is for us to preserve our federal and state court systems, which have played such an important part in the government of our country, in the freedoms that we enjoy and in the prosperity that we enjoy."

Justices Breyer, O'Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy spoke to the subject at the first ABA Rule of Law Symposium, held in Washington in November 2005. More recently, as Sternford Moyo, deputy president of the Southern African Development community Lawyer's Association and past president of the Zimbabwe Law Society stated at the Chicago Rule of Law Symposium, "A judiciary that is not independent cannot possibly promote the rule of law."

Back to top