Independent Judiciary

Here is a follw up to the last post before break, O'Connor Unloads:

Supreme Court Justice Reveals Death Threats
By GINA HOLLAND, AP

WASHINGTON (March 16) - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor have been the targets of death threats from the "irrational fringe" of society, people apparently spurred by Republican criticism of the high court.

Interestingly, th AOL story includes two webpolls that serve to prime irritation at the court:

Should international jurisprudence be considered by American judges?
Yes
No

Should juveniles ever be elligible for the death penalty?
Yes
No

No doctrinal context, no pro / con arguments, simply a question of what we prefer.

One more excerpt from the posting:

Security concerns among judges have been growing.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter joked earlier this year that Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned. Over the past few months O'Connor has complained that criticism, mainly by Republicans, has threatened judicial independence to deal with difficult issues like gay marriage.

The AOL piece and a New York Times article Year After Shootings, Calls to Increase Judges' Security, published Sunday, report the same statistics:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said this week that three-quarters of the more than 2,000 federal judges had sought home security systems paid by the government.