Theodore Roosevelt hated the idea of unelected judges stopping him and his allies in the Progressive movement from wielding government power as they saw fit. So Roosevelt advocated stripping the courts of their independence by subjecting both judges and judicial decisions to recall by popular vote.
"When a judge decides a constitutional question," Roosevelt argued in 1912, "the people should have the right to recall that decision if they think it is wrong." It must be "made much easier than it now is to get rid, not merely of a bad judge," Roosevelt declared, but of any judge. As far as Roosevelt was concerned, the Progressive movement "cannot surrender the right of ultimate control to a judge."
Sound familiar?
