In a recent op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, lawyer Michael W. Smith recalls a judge he clerked for in the Civil Rights era being targeted for intimidation and threats to his life and family as he ordered the desegregation of schools. Smith argues that judicial independence—not just from the mob but from politicians and activists as well—is a key part of what makes our system work:
Those who attack judicial independence do so fearlessly for a couple of reasons. First, in their view, there is no political capital to be lost in openly and unfairly attacking judges and judicial systems. Second, as Alexander Hamilton noted in Federal Papers No. 78, many years ago, courts and judges are not structured to return fire, and those who would attack them know they can do so without rejoinder: “The judiciary, on the contrary (to the Executive and Legislative branches), has no influence over either the sword or the purse.” As such, the judicial branch is the least powerful of the three branches of government and is ill-equipped to protect itself from attacks by the other two branches. When such attacks occur, it is we, the citizens, who lose should we choose to do nothing and allow the intimidation to achieve its goal.
Read the whole thing here.
