Opinion: Private punishment of judges fails to protect public

Suzanne M. Blonder

A feud between Michigan Supreme Court justices over the confidentiality of their deliberations has begun to throw much needed sunlight on a state judiciary that has operated behind closed doors for far too long. Justice Elizabeth Weaver's recent call for transparency should extend to the state's secretive system for disciplining and removing judges who have abused their power on the bench.

In trying to appraise this issue of law enforcement, much has been written and much more will be written. One point that everyone seems to agree on is that crime is out of control, and something must be done about it.
We call America the land of the free, and refer to the Soviet Union as a police state. But the facts tell us another story: they show that this country holds more people per capita in jail than any other country, including the Soviet Union and South Africa.