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- Nov 5, 2010
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This is a question that should be made viral:
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It's worse than that.
Judges don't have "qualified immunity".
They have "judicial immunity" - which is a subset of "absolute" (rather than "qualified") immunity.
(Legislators and prosecutors also enjoy such "absolute immunity".)
The powers of impeachment and veto ought to be much more widely vested (and widely used) than they are.
In fact, we should revive the Roman Repbulic's office of "tribune", the primary duty of which is to exercise veto powers. The tribune's job was not to "do something!!" - it was to prevent others from "do[ing] something!!". Then we should supplement that with a new office, the primary duty of which is to exercise impeachment powers. And just to keep things Latin-y, we can call this office "accusator". Politicians and bureaucrats should live in perpetual frustration with tribunes, and in perpetual fear of accusators.
Other offices (not just those of "tribune" and "accusator") should be endowed with veto or impeachment authorities, as well. For just one example, jurors should be formally and explicitly permitted to exercise the veto power of "jury nullification" - a practice which ought to be nourished and promoted, not inhibited or denied.
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