[pjc50]

Sticking the "unelected" qualifier on "judge" as if there is no distinction between law and politics betrays a lot of prejudice. Judges in the EU aren't directly elected anywhere, as far as I know.

Human Rights law in the EU serves much the same role as constitutional law does in the US: an underlying set of values that the behaviour of the government must be consistent with. Article 8 ECHR serves much the same role as the US 4th Amendment in limiting searches.

Besides, if there's genuine consensus the rules can be changed and the judiciary have to go along with that.

[tptacek]

Judges everywhere tend to be "unelected". That's not innuendo. It's a fact that constitutional and legal scholars tend to be acutely aware of when determining the scope and balance of powers in a judiciary. Constitutional scholars constantly raise the same point about the US Supreme Court: its justices are unelected, and we are not a nation governed by philosopher kings.