"The constitutional tools exist. The laws are already written. We ask you to act."
Watkins & Bunker is a coalition of American citizens united by a conviction that the Constitution means what it says. We write about constitutional principles, help ordinary people understand the rights they already possess, and petition government officials to act on the laws already written into our founding charter.
We believe the federal judiciary was never meant to operate beyond accountability. Article III conditions judicial tenure on "good Behaviour" — a phrase the Framers borrowed from English common law with its full meaning intact: a condition enforceable through judicial proceedings.
Making constitutional principles accessible to every citizen — from the Good Behaviour Clause to the history of scire facias and the Take Care Clause.
Petitioning the President and government officials to enforce the constitutional mechanisms that already exist for judicial accountability.
Documenting the structural failures that have allowed a branch of government to insulate itself from the rule of law the Founders established.
Filed February 9, 2026 — Addressed to The Honorable Donald J. Trump
Nine citizens of the United States have signed their names to a petition asking the President to exercise his duty under the Take Care Clause of Article II, Section 3 — to ensure that the laws of this nation are faithfully executed.
The petition presents a constitutional compendium establishing that "during good Behaviour" in Article III is a condition on judicial tenure, not a grant of irrevocable life appointment. That condition was enforced for centuries through the writ of scire facias, a judicial proceeding with full due process that the First Congress explicitly authorized in Section 14 of the Judiciary Act of 1789.
Experience has already shown that the impeachment it has provided is not even a scare-crow. Thomas Jefferson, 1819
The petition argues that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 81(b), which purports to abolish scire facias, failed to do so — because the Rules Enabling Act forbids any procedural rule from abridging a substantive right, and no substitute mechanism exists in the Federal Rules for the forfeiture of a judicial commission.
Enclosed with the petition is a proposed Executive Order directing the Attorney General to initiate forfeiture proceedings through the courts, with written notice, adequate time for defense, and judicial determination on the merits. It is the judiciary itself that would adjudicate whether its members have breached the condition of good behaviour.
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government. Patrick Henry
This is not an attack on judicial independence. The constitutional design demands an independent judiciary that operates under law — not above it. The petition asks only for the restoration of the balance the Framers built: a system in which every branch of government, including the judiciary, is accountable.
The architecture of the American republic was designed with auxiliary precautions — mechanisms ensuring that no branch of government becomes a law unto itself.
Article III grants judges conditional tenure — not life appointment. "During good Behaviour" carried a precise legal meaning: an estate in office determinable upon a judicial finding of misbehavior, enforceable through due process.
The common law mechanism for enforcing good behaviour tenure. The First Congress placed it alongside habeas corpus in the Judiciary Act of 1789 — one of the great writs essential to the rule of law against government tyranny.
Article II, Section 3 commands — not permits — the President to ensure laws are faithfully executed. As Washington stated: "To permit them to be trampled upon with impunity would be repugnant to that duty."
Whether you want to learn more about our constitutional research, request a copy of the full petition and proposed Executive Order, or share your own experience with judicial accountability — we welcome your correspondence.