Good judges are those who don't legislate from the bench, don't release serial killers on a technicality and care more for the victims than the criminals.
"in the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called "Catcher's Mitt" to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States, after a federal judge severely chastised the FBI for improperly seeking permission to wiretap terrorists"
Don't lay this at the feet of the judge. The Justice department could have continued the program, merely having FBI agents follow the law. Instead, they bagged the program because, apparently, it was too much trouble to have FBI agents follow proper procedure. Like a petulant child, Justice essentially said, "well, if you won't let us play the game the way we want to, we not going to play at all."
And you think this is the judge's fault?