“Those who cannot remember the past,” wrote philosopher George Santayana, “are condemned to repeat it.” Ignorance of the past is bad enough, but current attempts to politicize our courts are a deliberate attempt to compromise the judicial independence that America’s founders said is “peculiarly essential” for the liberty we have enjoyed. The “injuries and usurpations” by the British king cited in the Declaration of Independence included making judges “dependent on his Will.” The U.S. Constitution took steps to address this by letting federal judges serve for life and blocking Congress from cutting judicial pay. That kind of structural protection, as well as the more general separation of powers into three branches, safeguards judges’ independence in making their decisions. Heritage Expert: Thomas Jipping
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