I was arguing with some talk radio ranter the other day on GFY and he was trying to claim that activist judges are usually liberal. Here is a statistic I just found today that I thought he might find interesting. Talk radio won't tell you this, because talk radio is not about truth, it's about propaganda.
The most liberal Supreme Court in recent U.S. history was statistically far less "activist" than the current conservative activist Supreme Court. These statistics do nothing less than prove that conservatives, not liberals, are actually the activist judges, at least at the highest levels.
Interesting that Rush Limbaugh and his followers scream all day about "activist judges" when they are the ones who own the most activist Supreme Court in recent United States history. I'm sure that's not hypocrisy, though.
Here are the facts:
Conservatives, including President Bush, have criticized "judicial activism," or the substitution of a judge's own views for established law. Conservatives have pointed to the civil rights-era decisions of the court under Chief Justice Warren Burger as examples of such activism.
Critics on the left have countered, as Clinton did Tuesday, that activism is often in the eye of the beholder.
While the court has the power to strike down federal laws, it has been historically reluctant to do so, Clinton noted.
The (liberal) Warren court struck down federal laws in about 20 cases over 16 years, she said. The (conservative) Rehnquist court, in the last eight terms alone, has done so in 32 cases.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/...0723_1999.html
The most liberal Supreme Court in recent U.S. history was statistically far less "activist" than the current conservative activist Supreme Court. These statistics do nothing less than prove that conservatives, not liberals, are actually the activist judges, at least at the highest levels.
Interesting that Rush Limbaugh and his followers scream all day about "activist judges" when they are the ones who own the most activist Supreme Court in recent United States history. I'm sure that's not hypocrisy, though.
Here are the facts:
Conservatives, including President Bush, have criticized "judicial activism," or the substitution of a judge's own views for established law. Conservatives have pointed to the civil rights-era decisions of the court under Chief Justice Warren Burger as examples of such activism.
Critics on the left have countered, as Clinton did Tuesday, that activism is often in the eye of the beholder.
While the court has the power to strike down federal laws, it has been historically reluctant to do so, Clinton noted.
The (liberal) Warren court struck down federal laws in about 20 cases over 16 years, she said. The (conservative) Rehnquist court, in the last eight terms alone, has done so in 32 cases.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/...0723_1999.html
Comment