Can an Independent Judiciary Be Accountable?

Nonresident Senior Fellow Stuart Taylor moderated a panel discussion with six leading legal experts on why the judiciary now finds itself so reviled in Congress; the role of the appointment process as a form of democratic accountability; the conflict over filibustering of nominees; the efforts to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over some issues; and the talk of impeaching judges for perceived usurpations of power.

The bitter conflict over President Bush’s judicial nominees and the anticipated Armageddon over Supreme Court vacancies both reflect the emergence of the judiciary as the central battleground in American politics. This session was the fourth in an ongoing series of public discussions sponsored by the Brookings Governance Studies Program’s Judicial Issues Forum.