Wednesday, we linked you to Justice O'Connor's OpEd on Judicial Independence. LINK Earlier today, Attorney General Gonzales entered the fray with a speech at Georgetown University School of Law. LINK
''Judges must resist the temptation to supplement those tools based on their own personal views about the wisdom of the policies under review,'' Gonzales said.
And he said the independence of federal judges, who are appointed for life, ''has never meant, and should never mean, that judges or their decisions should be immune'' from public criticism.
''Respectfully, when courts issue decisions that overturn long-standing traditions or policies without proper support in text or precedent, they cannot -- and should not -- be shielded from criticism,'' Gonzales said. ''A proper sense of judicial humility requires judges to keep in mind the institutional limitations of the judiciary and the duties expressly assigned by the Constitution to the more politically accountable branches.''
His audience included legal scholars and judges, including Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the Bush administration's most reliable supporters on the Supreme Court.
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