If the public is predisposed to resent litigation outcomes that impose unwelcome restraints, it begs the question of whether the public really wants an independent judiciary in the first place, or would prefer judges who are subject to popular control and will render the decisions that the public favors. The question of whether the public really wants an independent judiciary has two parts: What is an independent judiciary? And does the public want one? The first part seemingly invites a protracted disquisition on the meaning of judicial independence, but that would be unnecessarily digressive. For purposes here, it will suffice to isolate, from the many facets of judicial independence that scholars have identified, those of central relevance to the public judicial independence debate. With those meanings in hand, I will then turn to the second part of the question and peel back the layers of the public's views on judicial independence, like an onion, to reveal the nature and extent of the public's ambivalence.. . . [for full article click the PDF below]