I saw a good report show on CNN the other night, called Broken Government.  The episode was about the recent backlash against the judicial branch.

One of the current US supreme court justices had an intersting response to the question: “Why should we support unelected individuals appointed to this position for life?”:

(Paraphrasing) “It’s still always possible for the majority to gang up on a minority.  That’s the purpose of the judicial ‘check’ on the other branches.”

I find that a compelling answer.  There are definitely examples in US history where this happened, one being the court-ordered desegregation of schools.  Elected officials had fought to keep segregation.  I don’t think you’ll find many people today who would (publically) claim this was a bad move by the courts.