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> Justices chosen by voters reverse death penalties at less than half the rate of those who are appointed, a Reuters analysis finds, suggesting that politics pl

• hinkley 6y ago
  I don't know about 'want' but it's going to happen. The branches of the US government are meant as a check against power mongering by the other two branches. We modified other attempts at doing so, and others have done the same with ours. Normal court cases may not be about politics, but appellate and supreme court cases often are. I can appeal a ruling around a law by putting the law itself on trial, invalidating all or parts of it. If Congress doesn't like it, they can come back and try to change the state or federal constitution to put it back, but that is so difficult that only some very big items make it through. Where a lower court judge can make a mess is by generating more appeals than we (the People, or the Defendent) can afford to pursue. I think it would be disingenuous to say that isn't also political. I don't see how a judge who favors one side of an unresolved policy dispute can avoid generating extra work for the higher courts. However, they may piss enough people off that the resources are allocated to settle this once and for all, legislatively or judicially.