All judges are parstian figures, despite the fact that our political system usually attempts to distance political parties from judges. In the federal judicary all judges are appointed by the President. Under President Bush the judges that have been nominated have been inheritly more conservative then the onces under President Clinton, despite that the time periods between both Presidents is relatively small. In state politics, political parties pick judges and put them up for election. Town and city judges go up every 4 years, County or Supreme court judges go up every 10 years, and Court of Appeals Division judges go up for life.

There are different levels of protection for judges against political pressures. Federal judgeships are lifetime appointments. Once the President nominates and the Senate appoints judges, they can only be removed by impeachment and conviction by Congress. Before President Bush, only well-qualified judges as defined by the federal Bar Association where nominated. Impeachment is only for the most serious abuses of judical power. State judges are prohibited from participating in any kind of partisan activity except within 1 year of their election. They can not contribute to any political candidate, attend any fund raiser, or be appearing to lend support to their party in any way. They also can no comment on any issue that might appear before them in the court.

Those walls crumble fast. Since President Bush elimated the American Bar Assocation's role in saying what judges are well qualified, he has appointed some judges that have scored poorly on the their rankings. More rank is what happens in state judical elections. State judges are banned from contributing to their party, yet their spouses frequently give to political events. State judicary law has no prohibitions on family members giving to their party. Judges are often seen at popular partisan bars and often listen to the advice of political people. During that one year without restriction, judges attend almost every party function. They are largely dependent on their party to renominate them or give them support in future elections.

Judges not only are elected to their positions, they are politicans. They make law everyday, just like the governor, bureaucratic heads, and the legislature. Their decisions are not only grounded in law and fact, but also how they see the law and fact to apply. Sometimes they will disagree morally with their own decisions when the law explicitly is different then what they believe, but more of the time what they decide is based on their beliefs and that of their consituents. Most of the time it comes down to the party.