The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from requiring a criminal defendant to pay "excessive bail" in order to get out of jail before trial. Nevertheless, nearly half a million people across the country are in pretrial detention.

In this issue of the International Judicial Observer:

In 1990, Congress created the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal, who's charge included investigation of problems related to the discipline and removal of life-tenured federal judges, and evaluation of alternatives to current arrangements for judicial discipline and removal, i