# Presentation: 538749

## Constitutional Protections of Judicial Independence

- Tenure during good behavior
- No reductions in salary
- Removal only for “high Crimes and Misdemeanors”

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## The Elected Branches and the Judiciary

- President: Appoints judges, with advice and consent of the Senate
- Congress:
- – Establishes lower courts
- – Determines the size of the Supreme Court
- – Determines much of the 	jurisdiction of the federal courts

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Constitutional Debates: The Federalists

- Courts enforce the will of the people embodied in the Constitution
- Judicial independence protects minority rights
- Courts have no coercive power

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Constitutional Debates: The Anti-Federalists

- Federal courts would have unprecedented independence
- Impeachment the only means of removing judges
- Courts would have control over Congress

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Courts and the Rise of Political Parties: Federalists

- Prosecution of administration critics
- Federal judges strictly enforced the Sedition Act
- New courts diminished states’ authority

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Courts and the Rise of Political Parties: Republicans

- Abolished the circuit courts and new judgeships
- Impeached judges accused of partisanship
- Asserted congressional control over courts

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Critics of Federal Judicial Authority

- Jefferson: Fixed terms for judges
- Calls to limit federal review of state court decisions
- Defense of state jurisdiction over many cases

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Reconstruction and the Federal Courts

- Fears of a pro-Southern Supreme Court
- Limiting jurisdiction over congressional acts
- Reliance on courts to establish federal authority

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## The Courts in an Industrial Economy

- Court injunctions against strikers
- Court protection of private economic rights
- Supreme Court rejection of economic regulation

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Popular Reform Proposals

- Election of judges
- Limited terms of office
- “Jurisdiction stripping”
- Limits on judicial review

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## FDR’s “Court-Packing” Plan

- Alleged court delays resulting from elderly judges
- Need for judges with “modern” experience
- Authority to add new judges to all federal courts

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## The Defense of the Judiciary

- “Invasion of judicial power”
- Democratic opposition to Roosevelt
- Progressives feared executive power grab
- Popular opposition to the plan

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Persistence of Attacks on Judicial Independence

- Proposed structural changes in response to specific decisions
- Jurisdiction stripping
- Challenges to judicial tenure

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Institutional Independence

- Judicial Conference of the U.S. Courts
- Administrative, educational, and research support for the courts
- Self regulation of the judiciary

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center

## Public Trust in the Judiciary

- Taft: Judges’ responsibility to ensure public faith
- Failure of attempts to limit judicial independence
- Resistance to wholesale reorganization of the courts

- Judicial Independence. Prepared by the Federal Judicial Center