In 2006, Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.), then House Judiciary Committee Chairman, and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced legislation that would establish an independent Inspector General for the Judicial Branch. Although these bills, reintroduced in 2007 and strongly opposed by the ABA, were never brought to a vote, the concept of an extrajudicial disciplinary mechanism which they raised has generated a great deal of interest among legislators.
The U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to regulate the functioning of the courts and define what constitutes "good behaviour" of judges. Article III, Section 1, which created the Supreme Court, also endowed Congress with the power to "ordain and establish" all lower courts. It states:
"The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office."
Implied in the constitutional establishment of the courts is the establishment of the rules and regulations that define their structure and operation. The question now is whether Congress will be able to wrest from the judiciary the power it gradually usurped for policing itself as Congress trustingly looked on. Once a critical mass of disaffected citizens applies sufficient pressure upon its representatives, Congress may suddenly recognize that it not only has the constitutional authority, but also a mandate from the people to restructure one of its own creations that has become so corrupted by self-serving regulation and provincialism that it has lost sight of its purpose to serve the public.
Judicial Question for Presidential Candidates
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