Court Review: Volume 38, Issue 3 - On Judicial Independence Under Pressure

Although our legal system is the envy of much of the world, we hear much criticism in our own country of lawyers and judges. But we should take real pride in the contribution of judges and lawyers to the formation of our country. Of the 55 delegates to amend the Articles of Confederation, which we now call the Constitutional Convention, 60% were lawyers or judges. Throughout the succeeding years, lawyers and judges have guided the continuing development of our system of government. I stress continuing development because it is not something like climbing a hill when we can say, “Ahhah! We have achieved the objective.” It is more like adjusting a system of governance to the changing times, indeed, in this era it is very rapidly changing times, with the breathtaking advances in science and technology and our dependence on a global econom