Stephen Breyer — American Judge born on August 15, 1938,

Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court... (wikipedia)

Independence doesn't mean you decide the way you want.
To threaten the institution is to threaten fair administration of justice and protection of liberty.
It doesn't help to fight crime to put people in prison who are innocent.
You can have many different selection systems, but the bottom line has to be a system that, once the judge takes office that judge will feel that he or she is to decide the case without reference to the popular thing or the popular will of the moment.
And in that confirmation process, I sat for 17 hours in front of a senate judiciary committee.