October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4
When elected leaders attack the courts, judges rarely prevail on their own. Across 25 cases of backsliding, judicial independence survived only where legislators, protesters, and international institutions stood ready to defend it.
April 2026, Volume 37, Issue 2
The judiciary is widely assumed to defend democracy. Yet in reality, even when independent of elected governments, courts can endanger democracy—sometimes by enabling executives and sometimes by aggressively fighting them.
The country’s mass protests were its last democratic guardrail. But Israel’s wartime goals have become a higher priority than keeping Netanyahu in check.
