Karin Litzcke on Canadian Judicial Council’s judicial independence public relations campaign

“So, judicial independence. The core idea is that judges cannot be pushed around by governments, even back in the days when governments were kings. This was a great idea, I’m sure, until – in Canada at least – the print dried on the Charter. It’s my belief that that was when institutional power soared, and relative individual power shrank to the point where individuals have become comparatively invisible to the law.

And that is when the problem with judicial independence began. Not problems with independence from government – judges have always been on top of protecting themselves from governments. No, the problems with judicial independence now are about whether judges can keep themselves independent from other powerful agencies in the economic, social, and, above all, legal superstructure.”

by Karin Litzcke

Read the whole thing at Karin’s Court Jester blog. Well worth your time: The doomed campaign to promote the perception of judicial independence

Photo of Karin Litzcke courtesy CBC