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We are witnessing attempts to undermine and attack judges — and through them, the rule of law — on a scale unprecedented in the more than half-century that I have been a lawyer. Officials at the highest levels of government impugn character and integrity and provoke doxing and physical harm against virtually any judge who rules against the federal administration, ignoring the substance of their typically careful, well-reasoned opinions.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and others who know better make unfounded calls for judges’ impeachment. Government lawyers are instructed to flout or circumvent court orders, often failing to interact with the judiciary respectfully, fully or with candor. Immigration agents are deployed to surround courthouses to intimidate judges and witnesses; they use the courts not to guarantee orderly process, but as convenient gathering places for seizures and arrests.

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All of this has a purpose: Debasing courts and judges is meant to diminish their role as guardrails of constitutional rights and independent sources of........

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