Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2002

Abstract

In my view, whether or not Article III is written as members of a new constitutional convention might write it, there is nothing more fundamental to the way our entire judicial system operates (including in many ways, although indirectly, our state courts) than federal judges being as independent as law can make them. Perhaps I suffer from Burkean skepticism about reform of long-standing institutions, or perhaps I am merely a supporter of the status quo. But I believe that, despite obvious drawbacks in giving anyone life tenure in any job, we gain far more than we lose by making federal judges independent, i.e., so protected from external pressures and internal incentives. Article III's grant of life tenure is the bedrock of our Constitution's guarantees (and therefore our Rule of Law and our protection of minorities arid dissenters) and assurances that lasting values are not eroded by ephemeral passions.

Publication Citation

30 Cap. U. L. Rev. 489-498 (2002)

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