Beware all seditionists. Federal district judge John E. Jones, who presided over the famous case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (the "Intelligent Design" case), appears to be offering a veiled warning that judicial critics should "ratchet down" their criticism of judges.

”And that gets into a still larger issue that I think is of somewhat crisis proportions, which I call a crisis in judicial independence. Many judges across the country feel exceedingly threatened by a public, a punditry, and a political establishment that tends to launch ad hominem attacks against individual judges when they disagree with them....”

“The challenge for our time, then, as it relates to the cherished system of justice created by our Founders, is to ensure that threats against judges--and by implication to judicial independence--are ratcheted down, and that our independent judiciary is thus preserved.”

Judge Jones evidently cut class on the day that they taught that "judicial independence" is not and never was intended for the benefit of judges. The intent of judicial independence is to give the public assurance that judges will act impartially, and not decide cases on the basis of whether one of the disputants has friends in the White House, state legislature, governor's mansion, or Congress. Evidently, in Judge Jones' opinion, judicial independence means total autonomy; i.e.: broad jurisdictions, unrestricted writ-issuing power, zero legislative oversight, and unlimited authority with respect to the interpretation, application (and even the creation) of law.

Jones' comments: The Myth of "Activist Judges" http://www.collegenews.org/x6455.xml