Interestingly, I recently learnt that the judicial branch as implemented in most democracies (presently), holds no real power. In my country, for instance, it i

Interestingly, I recently learnt that the judicial branch as implemented in most democracies (presently), holds no real power. In my country, for instance, it is appointed by the government -- in the USA, if I'm not mistaken, it's also the case that the Supreme Court is appointed by the president, but I believe they need the consent of your Senate. I've read that there are a few democracies where the judicial power is somewhat independent, but I don't recall specific examples. I was also surprised to read, also, that Montesquieu also made a note about the judicial power. Short version of that observation, taken from wikipedia: > Montesquieu actually specified that the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not merely apparent. The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of the three powers, independent and unchecked, but it is also likely to claim to be the least dangerous one. He also touches on this in the video (around the 1h40m mark). It seems quite difficult to keep our democracies in check if the judiciary doesn't really hold real power.