(1) A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government. - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Ritchie, 1820
(2) And it proves, in the last place, that liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments. - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #78, 1788
Contrary to popular conservative thought, an independent judiciary is a good thing for a country to have. No judge should ever have to bend to popular will, whether exerted by the people or by elected officials. That said, judges are also human beings who are cognizant of the political zeitgeist surrounding the cases they deal with and that means having both the patience of Job and the willingness to tiptoe through minefields without stepping on a political/social landmine.
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