The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation.

O’Connor is invoking the Founding-era argument—made most famously in The Federalist (especially No. 78)—that courts must be insulated from political pressure to enforce the Constitution and protect individual rights. By stressing the framers’ clarity “in the Federalist Papers and elsewhere,” she frames judicial independence not as a modern preference of judges, but as an original structural safeguard meant to preserve the rule of law and the separation of powers. The quote also implicitly warns that if the judiciary becomes dependent on the political branches (through intimidation, retaliation, or partisan control), constitutional limits weaken and public confidence in lawful governance erodes.