What happened to those six judges was not a malfunction or bureaucratic error. It was the system functioning exactly as designed. They were not removed for incompetence, corruption, or misconduct. They were removed because they granted refuge too often in a political climate obsessed with deterrence, speed, and deportation statistics. Their decisions reflected conscience and the law as written, not the outcomes preferred by those tallying numbers from above. When judicial independence is quietly punished like this, it sends a message far louder than any public announcement ever could.
That message is simple and chilling: rule according to your conscience, and you could be next. Even judges who remain on the bench cannot ignore what they’ve seen. Every future ruling now carries a shadow. Each case becomes a calculation, not just of law and evidence, but of personal risk. In that atmosphere, fear seeps into the legal process itself. The law does not collapse all at once—it bends slowly, subtly, shaped by the knowledge that independence has consequences. Continue reading…
