Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
There should be many judges, for few will always do the will of few.
Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discourses on Livy. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov, University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 25.
Presidential dissatisfaction with the judiciary is an old and common problem.
TR had a Supreme Court where a conservative block was in the majority and declared a number of his key reforms as unconstitutional. The same thing happened to FDR as well. Since Supreme Court justices had lifetime tenure most presidents and congresses have to deal with a court that has the political makeup and political philosophy of previous administrations by which they were appointed. Reform and change presidents tend to see the Supreme Court as obstructionist.
The government of Pakistan regarded this as seditious. The Government can fire judges at will and the military has the right to convene its own courts and try Pakistani civilians for certain alleged crimes by removing their cases from the civilian courts. Even when a Pakistani judge is not intimidated by the government or the military, the Islamic extremist fanatics often assassinate any public official who any one of thousands of fanatics feels is anti-Islamic.
The reference was to the Presidential power to appoint Supreme Court Justices who will serve beyond his term.
Others argue that the prosecutors are the weakest link in the system. See {631696}.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian Renaissance diplomat, philosopher and writer, best known for The Prince (Il Principe), written in 1513. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.
