Tag

#judicial independence

Attacks on the independence of the judiciary, including defiance of court orders, threats against judges, attempts to pack or restructure courts, and interference with judicial proceedings or appointments.

5 incidents

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Immigration Judiciary Purge: 113 Judges Fired Without Due Process, Including Two Who Ruled for Student Activists

Over 113 immigration judges have been fired without due process since January 2025 — more firings in one year than in the entire prior history of the immigration court system. The April 2026 firing, without stated reason, of two judges who had dismissed deportation cases against pro-Palestinian activists signals to every remaining judge that ruling against the administration can cost them their post, undermining the independence of courts adjudicating life-and-death immigration cases.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Systematic Attacks on Judicial Independence and Defiance of Court Orders

A pattern of court order defiance, threats against judges, calls for impeachment, and DOJ Civil Rights Division gutting that constitutional scholars describe as the most serious executive-judicial confrontation since at least Watergate.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Deportation Traps at Immigration Court Hearings and Systematic Denial of Due Process

ICE turned mandatory immigration court hearings into arrest traps, coordinating in real time with government attorneys to arrest immigrants whose cases were dismissed. Record-setting asylum denials, in absentia orders tripling to 50,000, and 'rocket dockets' processing cases too fast for legal representation destroyed systematic access to due process.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

ICC Immunity Demands: Ultimatum to Amend Rome Statute and Exempt Americans from War Crimes Prosecution

A systematic campaign to destroy the International Criminal Court's ability to hold Americans accountable for war crimes, combining unprecedented sanctions on judges with demands to rewrite the Rome Statute itself. The campaign goes far beyond any previous US opposition to the ICC, seeking not merely non-cooperation but the permanent restructuring of international criminal justice.

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Executive Order Sanctioning International Criminal Court Officials

The administration imposed escalating sanctions on ICC officials -- including judges and prosecutors -- for investigating US citizens and allies, obstructing international criminal accountability and drawing broad condemnation from the UN and international legal community.