What is judicial independence?
• Why is judicial independence important to you, the citizen? • What are the threats to judicial independence? • How can judicial independence be protected? What is judicial independence? “The law makes a promise – neutrality. If the promise gets broken, the law as we know it ceases to exist.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy6 Judicial independence means that judges decide cases fairly and impartially, relying only on the facts and the law. Individual judges and the judicial branch as a whole should work free of ideological influence. Although all judges do not reason alike or necessarily reach the same decision, decisions should be based on determinations of the evidence and the law, not on public opinion polls, personal whim, prejudice or fear, or interference from the legislative or the executive branches or private citizens or groups. There are two types of judicial independence: decisional independence and institutional independence (sometimes called branch independ
