What is the appropriate relationship between judicial independence and judicial accountability?
Although there are tensions between demands for both the independence and the accountability of the judiciary, the two principles are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, the effective operation of the judicial system within democratic societies depends upon a balance between the independence of judges to consider the facts and the law of each case with an open mind and unbiased judgment and the need for comity and public accountability. Indeed, John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, recognized the principle when he said that “next to doing right, the great object in the administration of justice should be to give public satisfaction.”The judiciary is said to be the weakest of the three branches of government in the United States; however, its action is also the furthest removed from popular control via democratic processes. While decision making within the courts should be independent, there have always been mechanisms built into state and federal constitutio
