It's important to every American that the law protect his or her basic liberty
But once the person is selected, at that point that person is independent.
Nobody wants a judge to be subject to the political whim of the moment.
It doesn't help to fight crime to put people in prison who are innocent.
This understanding, underlying constitutional interpretation since the New Deal, reflects the Constitution's demands for structural flexibility sufficient to adapt substantive laws and institutions to rapidly changing social, economic, and technological conditions.
We are selected, but I grew up in California and in San Francisco and there was a system of electing judges.