Pakistan abuses vital judiciary

A free people depend on a judiciary free of government intrusion. For this reason, the lawyers of Pakistan risked imprisonment by protesting in the streets the dismissal and house arrest of the chief justice of the Supreme Court and his fellow justices. The lawyers understood that the judiciary represents society's best defense against abuse of human rights, denial of due process and the excesses of government.

As the voice of the judges of Illinois, the Illinois Judges Association condemns the disbanding of the Pakistani Supreme Court and its replacement with pliant judges hand-picked by the country's besieged president. Their only crime was defying coercion and interference and upholding the rule of law.

We sympathize with the Pakistani justices and worry about their fate. What happened in Pakistan reminds us that the telling distinction between the free world and the captive world is an untrammeled judiciary, comprised of judges who answer to the rule of law and not the fiat of the ruler.

Without vigilance, no system of justice is safe from political and partisan forces. A nation's liberty depends on it. Just ask the judges and lawyers of Pakistan.

Mark Schuering, President

Illinois Judges Association