Judge in robes with cityscape inside silhouette

Judicial Independence, pt. 2: Politicians In Robes?

Have our courts – intended by America’s founders to be an independent arbiter of justice – turned into another political battlefield? Are today’s judges mere “politicians in robes”? This public radio documentary series looks at crucial flashpoints in recent decades.

In this divisive climate, will the frequency of 5-4 decisions by the Supreme Court increase, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested in June 2019? Will rulings follow the predictable blocs of liberal and conservative justices, strongly associated with the party of the president who appointed them?