Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #78:
According to the plan of the convention, all judges who may be appointed by the United States are to hold their offices during good behavior; which is conformable to the most approved of the State constitutions and among the rest, to that of this State. Its propriety having been drawn into question by the adversaries of that plan, is no light symptom of the rage for objection, which disorders their imaginations and judgments. The standard of good behavior for the continuance in office of the judicial magistracy, is certainly one of the most valuable of the modern improvements in the practice of government. In a monarchy it is an excellent barrier to the despotism of the prince; in a republic it is a no less excellent barrier to the encroachments and oppressions of the representative body. And it is the best expedient which can be devised in any government, to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.
Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them. The Executive not only dispenses the honors, but holds the sword of the community. The legislature not only commands the purse, but prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of every citizen are to be regulated. The judiciary, on the contrary, has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever. It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.
The Court has definitely exhibited bad behavior this week by making law rather than interpreting it. Alas, there is nowhere to go to deal with this except An Appeal to Heaven. The entire government is corrupted.
“The significance of the outcome of the Chase impeachment trial cannot be overstated. The vote represented a judgment that impeachment should not be used to remove a judge for conduct in the course of his judicial duties. The important precedent set by Chase’s acquittal has governed the removal by impeachment of federal judges from that day to this: a judge’s judicial acts may not serve as the basis for impeachment – only acts amounting to “high crimes and misdemeanors” can serve as the basis for removing a judge.” Chief Justice William Rehnquist in GRAND INQUESTS: THE HISTORIC IMPEACHMENTS OF JUSTICE SAMUEL CHASE AND PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON 74-89 (1992).