Judicial Independence in the United States: Current Issues and Relevant Background Information is published by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a chapter in Guidance for Promoting Judicial Independence and Impartiality, pp. 133-146. The guide seeks to promote understanding of the issues surrounding judicial independence and to assist USAID and other donors, in collaboration with their local counterparts, to design and implement programs that effectively strengthen judicial independence. The guide is based primarily on input from experts in 26 countries. The conclusions drawn from the papers submitted by these experts were vetted in a series of roundtables, with the final results forming the core of the guide. -- -- Appears in Guidance for Promoting Judicial Independence and Impartiality, pp. 133-146, available from the U.S. Agency for International Development at http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACM007.pdf (where a Spanish language translation is also available), and from the International Foundation for Election Systems at http://www.ifes.org/publications/guidance-promoting-judicial-independenc... -- -- A Chinese language translation of this document is also available through this catalog.