"
And Jeffreys was perfectly logical and consistent in his attitude. A
judiciary is either an end in itself or a means to an end. If it be
designed to protect the civil rights of citizens indifferently, it must
be free from pressure which will deflect it from this path, and it can
only be protected from the severest possible pressure by being removed
from politics, because politics is the struggle for ascendancy of a
class or a majority. If, on the other hand, the judiciary is to serve as
an instrument for advancing the fortunes of a majority or a dominant
class, as David used the Jewish judiciary, or as the Stuarts used the
English judiciary, then the judicial power must be embodied either in a
military or political leader, like David, who does the work himself, or
in an agent, more or less like Jeffreys, who will obey his orders. In
the colonies the subserviency of the judges to the Crown had been a
standing grievance, and the result of this long and terrible experience,
stretching through centuries both in Europe and America, had been to
inspire Americans with a fear of intrusting power to any man or body of
men.
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