The Truth About 'Judicial Activism' From The Daily KOS

[PuppyBismark]

It is time for the MSM to get this Right! It is the the Right Wing who are the Judicial Activists! The left wing has been following the law and the constitution, the right wing has been making it up as they go along! Note who is at the top of the list. Mr. I never speak!



A Little Reminder About 'Judicial Activism'

by Meteor Blades
Wed May 27, 2009 at 12:50:06 PM PDT

"Judicial activism" ought to have a straightforward meaning. But when foes of Democratic appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court and other seats on the federal bench deploy what has become a catch-phrase, there is an invisible adjective attached - liberal. In other words, their supposedly principled complaint is a dog-whistle.

We found that justices vary widely in their inclination to strike down Congressional laws. Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, was the most inclined, voting to invalidate 65.63 percent of those laws; Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, was the least, voting to invalidate 28.13 percent. The tally for all the justices appears below.

Thomas 65.63%
Kennedy 64.06%
Scalia 56.25%
Rehnquist 46.88%
O’Connor 46.77%
Souter 42.19%
Stevens 39.34%
Ginsburg 39.06%
Breyer 28.13%

One conclusion our data suggests is that those justices often considered more "liberal" - Justices Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens - vote least frequently to overturn Congressional statutes, while those often labeled "conservative" vote more frequently to do so. At least by this measure (others are possible, of course), the latter group is the most activist.


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Read the whole story here:

http://link:www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/27/735899/-A-Little-Reminder-About-Judicial-Activism