In a way it is scary to think how they would have continued and expanded their powers even more if the public like us hadn't started noticing and bringing it into the open.
One of the ways judges get away with breaking laws, is that when they do, lawyers rally to their side and announce that the faulty ruling is now the new law. They have decided that nothing a judge does can possibly be illegal, because simply by doing it, he causes it to become law. When legislators write laws to correct the problem, they're accused of overstepping their authority. The public is convinced that legislators are not authorized to write laws. I'm not sure what they think legislators are supposed to do, but they believe only judges are authorized to write laws. The dumbing down of America has been very effective.