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Judges have some non-obvious incentives for avoiding fights with prosecutors. In some jurisdictions, like CA & OR, one of them is the practice of "papering," or automatically disqualifying a judge from sitting on a case. DAs can use this to punish judges who rule against them.
Under some states' laws, either party can "paper" a judge by filing a peremptory challenge; no evidence or argument needed. The idea is to make sure cases are heard by judges both sides believe are fair. But this ends up granting prosecutors a disproportionate power.
A defense lawyer is one of many; even a public defender office doesn't represent even close to all of the defendants in a criminal court. But the prosecutor's office appears in basically 100% of criminal cases.
If a DA's office decides to start "blanket papering" a judge, effectively kicking them off all criminal cases, it creates a huge problem for court administration. That judge has to be transferred off the criminal docket or away from the court entirely. This affects their careers.
In Orange County, ethics scandals caused a judge to remove prosecutors from some homicide cases. The DA's office struck back by blanket-papering him, kicking him off almost all criminal cases. This was so disruptive the supervising judge tried to stop it. https://www.courthousenews.com/chastised-das-office-can-boot-judge-off-cases/
In 2016, a California appeals court held, 2-1, that CA law permitted "blanket papering" & there was nothing the court could do about it. The dissenter argued blanket papering "undermined the principle of judicial independence." The DA won. https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2016/g052932.html
California prosecutors even use the threat of blanket papering against judicial candidates, as @MyannaDellinger, who ran for judge in LA County this year with support from local leftists, attests here. https://twitter.com/MyannaDellinger/status/1340363295128109057?s=20
Now that Los Angeles just elected a reform DA, @GeorgeGascon, the shoe is on the other foot: some unhappy prosecutors are claiming to a local journalist that the office has been told to blanket paper a judge who's refusing to go along with his reforms. https://twitter.com/BillFOXLA/status/1339432732099637250?s=20
As @LADefenders2020 points out, the idea that prosecutors are suddenly scandalized by a tool they've been using for years to punish judges who rule against them is ridiculous. See the replies for more info from local practitioners on both sides. https://twitter.com/LADefenders2020/status/1340272736061427712?s=20
