Fresh from a controversial 5-4 decision on property rights, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Friday told a gathering of Florida Bar lawyers in Orange County that they must defend their rights and support judicial independence.

"We want a debate on what the law does and what it means," said Kennedy, the keynote speaker at the Bar's annual meeting, held at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center.

"Judges aren't immune from criticism, and neither are their decisions,"

said Kennedy, who was nominated by President Reagan and became an associate justice in 1988.

On Thursday, Kennedy sided with the majority in granting governments the right to seize individuals' properties in a case that could expand the power of eminent domain...

Judges and the court system nationwide have been on edge since the killings of a federal judge's family in Chicago in late February and the slayings of a state judge and three others in an Atlanta courthouse in March.

"When the judiciary is under attack, the bar disengaged, the public indifferent and critics scornful, then this idea of judicial independence might be under a real threat," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said when judges issue decisions, criticism is expected and even welcomed. "The law thrives on criticism," he said, adding that rulings should be debated and questioned. When judges act, they should be free to do what they have to or must do, Kennedy said.

The jurist also said attorneys should stand up when judges cannot and should serve as the bridge to explain the rule of law to the public when the U.S. Constitution is under scrutiny.

"This is an era in which new constitutions are being written," the judge said in reference to new legal systems being forged in Iraq, former communist nations and developing countries. "It would be a tragedy if the American people neglected or ignored the idea of judicial independence just when the rest of the world is on the threshold of gaining it themselves.

"I don't think we're doing enough. . . . The work of freedom is never done," he said to applause at the conclusion of his 45-minute speech...

Some in the audience later said they were encouraged by words coming from someone at the nation's highest court.

"His comments were timely," said Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero III, a Cuban-American Coral Gables attorney who noted the recent controversial Terri Schiavo rulings that sharply divided the state and the country.

Jesse Diner, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who sits on the Bar's judicial-independence committee, said Kennedy's message was "extremely important."

"He captured exactly what it means," he said. "An independent judiciary should be free of outside influence and free of reprisals."