Audio By Vocalize Judicial officers [File, Standard] Judicial officers have, over time, developed a remarkably effective reflex when they face scrutiny before the Judicial Service Commission. A judge accused of producing a decision that the record cannot support will, with considerable regularity, retreat behind the principle of decisional independence, arguing that his assessment of the evidence, his weighing of competing legal considerations, and ultimately his conclusion, are matters of internal decisional independence that no disciplinary body may examine without trespassing on his constitutional freedom to decide. It is a powerful defence. It is also in the hands of a corrupt…