Melissa Hooper Publishes White Paper on Judicial Independence

Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy Melissa Hooper published a policy White Paper with the Berkeley Law Edley Center on Law and Democracy this August. The paper, Subverting the Judiciary: A Guide to Autocratic Attacks on Judicial Independence, examines how autocratic leaders attempt to capture judiciaries, dismantle judicial independence, and weaken rule of law protections. It outlines trends and tactics seen in the United States that mirror strategies that have been used by autocrats internationally. The paper describes how these tactics invite dangerous physical attacks on the judges and undermine public confidence in the judiciary’s independence and effectiveness. Importantly, the white paper concludes by noting that democracy defenders and judges themselves have available means for shoring up the independence of the judiciary as well as public confidence in independent courts and describes ways we can contribute to trust building to re-envision the functioning of courts.

Hooper notes in the paper: “democracy defenders – including specifically judges – can contribute to trust-building by engaging more often and in new ways with their communities, both in person and online. This includes not only making the work of the justice system more transparent and understandable – the work of explaining – but also the work of listening: seeking information about how communities envision well-functioning courts.”

You can read the paper here: UC Berkeley Law.

You can learn more about the Center for Constitutional Democracy here.