The Association of Judges of Ireland (AJI) has said it “fully supports” an unprecedented statement from the world’s largest organisation of judges’ representative groups voicing “serious concern” about threats to judicial independence and the rule of law in the United States.
US judges are increasingly “being subjected to harsh criticism, threats, and even violence”, the presidency committee of the International Association of Judges (IAJ) said in its statement issued this month.
“Irresponsible rhetoric and disinformation are undermining public confidence in the judiciary and threatening the rule of law,” the IAJ statement said.
The IAJ, with a membership of 92 judicial associations, including Ireland’s AJI, said it “stands firmly against efforts to weaken the judiciary or turn it into a political instrument”. It said: “Such intimidation must end.”
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The IAJ has previously raised concerns over threats to judicial independence in other countries including Hungary, Poland, Israel, Turkey and Mexico. In 2020, Mr Justice John MacMenamin, then a Supreme Court judge, represented Irish judges at a silent protest march in Warsaw organised by the IAJ in solidarity with Polish judges who said their independence was being eroded by the government there.
The IAJ’s April 10th statement was the first in the Association’s 52-year history concerning threats to the rule of law in the US.
Asked about the statement, Ms Justice Tara Burns, president of the AJI, told The Irish Times on Wednesday: “The rule of law and the independence of the judiciary are fundamental bedrocks in a functioning democracy. The other co-equal branches of government must respect and do their utmost to protect these principles.”
The AJI “fully supports” the statement issued by the IAJ “in relation to the challenges facing our American colleagues in this regard”, she said.
In its statement, the IAJ set out its “serious concern over ongoing violations of fundamental principles of the rule of law, including judicial independence and respect for the separate and co-equal branches of government recognised in the [US] constitution”.
Its concern echoed that of the US’s Federal Judges Association (FJA), which represents more than 1,100 federal judges. The FJA is a member of the IAJ.
The American Bar Association has also “raised alarm over recent calls by senior officials to impeach judges whose rulings conflict with government positions, often without any evidence of wrongdoing”, the IAJ said.
Such attacks “are especially disturbing given the United States’ long-standing leadership in promoting the rule of law” and risked “emboldening authoritarian leaders worldwide and eroding legal protections globally”.
Pressuring or intimidating judges over their decisions is “unacceptable” and it is “vital” that the judiciary received “full support” of the other branches of government, it said.
Urging US officials “to stop issuing inflammatory statements against judges”, it said disagreement with court decisions “should be pursued through legal channels, not through public attacks”.
In a statement last month, FJA president J. Michelle Childs said this was a “difficult period” for the US federal judiciary and she called for “thoughtful discussion and reflection”.
Judge Childs said recent events were “a clear and urgent reminder that a significant percentage of the citizenry of the United States does not realise or understand that the US constitution establishes the judicial branch to interpret the law”.
Federal judges “play a crucial role in upholding our democracy as guardians of the rule of law”, she said. “Our courtroom decisions speak for us, we do not speak publicly about our decisions. Yet the judiciary faces growing threats including violence, intimidation, disinformation and unprecedented impeachments that challenge its independence.
“These concerns underscore the importance of our collective efforts as FJA members to protect judicial security, promote public understanding of the judiciary and reinforce the integrity of our courts.”
US chief justice John Roberts has warned that violence, intimidation, disinformation, and defiance of court orders threatened the independence of judges on which the rule of law depended, she said. He has noted public officials “had also regrettably engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges, including by suggesting political bias in the judges’ adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations”.
Judge Childs said: “Continued violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges simply because they are fulfilling their sworn judicial duties only serves to undermine our republic, jeopardise the inheritance from our founding generation and risk the collapse of the rule of law.”
