"The law makes a promise---neutrality. If the promise gets broken, the law as we know it ceases to exist.”
- Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

First of all, what is “judicial independence”?

Judicial independence means that judges are free to decide cases fairly and impartially, relying only on the facts and the law. It means that judges are protected from political pressure, legislative pressure, special interest pressure, media pressure, public pressure, financial pressure, or even personal pressure.

Judicial independence goes back to the U.S. Constitution. Our country’s founders, and each state’s founders, worked to protect courts from undue pressure. They knew that it takes fair and impartial decisions to protect our rights—and uphold the rule of law.

More than 200 years later, judicial independence is still an important issue. Indeed, the threat to fair and impartial courts—and judicial independence—is growing.

• Special interests are spending millions to influence decisions and elect judges to serve their narrow interests, not the public interest.
  
• The cost of judicial campaigns is skyrocketing, forcing judges to raise money like politicians—and people believe that justice is for sale.
  
• Misleading and partisan attacks on judges’ decisions are bringing politics into the courtroom. 
  
• Americans say they don’t have enough information to protect the courts that make important decisions about their lives.

No one expects judges to be perfect, or please everyone. That’s why there are mechanisms to hold judges accountable. Rulings can be appealed up to the Supreme Court. Laws can be changed. Wrongdoing and ethical violations can be punished. In most states, judges must stand for re-election.

But most Americans agree with former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., who said: "Judicial independence is the judge's right to do the right thing or, believing it to be the right thing, to do the wrong thing."

For more on how judicial independence is critical to upholding a system of fair and impartial courts, try these discussions at some of our partners’ websites:

ABA Standing Committee on Judicial Independence http://www.abanet.org/judind/aboutus/home.html

American Judicature Society
http://www.ajs.org/cji/default.asp

Brennan Center for Justice
http://www.brennancenter.org/subpage.asp?key=38&proj_key=73

Constitution Project
http://www.constitutionproject.org/courts/index.cfm?categoryId=5

Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System http://www.du.edu/legalinstitute/mission.htm

Senator John McCain Supports Justice at Stake

Glossary of Key Terms