250 years later, is judicial independence crumbling?
Broadcast on May 1, 2026, this WXXI public-radio program convenes retired federal and state judges to assess the state of judicial independence in the United States as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. Participants distinguish between ordinary public criticism of judicial decisions, which they characterize as constitutionally healthy, and a newer phenomenon in which sitting officials publicly identify individual judges and call for their impeachment, removal, or prosecution. The program is notable as a public-facing intervention by retired members of the judiciary themselves — a category of actor that appears with increasing frequency in democratic-decline literature as an internal “resistance” voice within the legal profession.