On Supreme Court Justices and "Activist" Jurisprudence
Be sure to check out Tony A's (a.k.a. Morning's Minion) post on the recently appointed "activist" Supreme Court Justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. The comments are a must-read as the commenters point out Tony's lack of knowledge in this area.
Tony's a smart guy, and he's probably forgotten more about certain areas of public policy and Catholic social teaching than I'll ever know. But constitutional jurisprudence just ain't his gig.
"I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I play one on Vox Nova."
~ Tony A (a.k.a. Morning's Minion)
UPDATE
For a discussion of the problems inherent in adopting Tony's view of constitutional jurisprudence, read Paul Zummo's excellent post on judicial activism, "Tyranny Defined", and my very first substantive post at this blog 2-and-a-half years ago, "Roper v. Simmons: Judicial Activism and The Juvenile Death Penalty".
Labels: Catholic Social Teaching, Constitutional Jurisprudence, Judiciary, Law, Supreme Court
posted by Pro Ecclesia 12:28 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
With supposed pro-life allies like Minion, who needs enemies?
Gracias for the link. You hit the nail on the head yourself, Jay.
If I may slightly defend Morning's Minion - I know him personally, and he is a good guy, and quite bright. I've met some insufferable people in this town, and he's not one. He's also fairly traditional when it comes to liturgical and theological matters, but we definitely don't see eye to eye on politics.
It's always good to remind yourself that there are real people on the other side of these debates.
Thanks Jay and Paul,
As I mentioned over on the home blog, my lack of constitutional law is indeed limited, and perhaps overly influenced by people like Jeffrey Rosen and Cass Sunstein. I would still contend that judges must be informed by morality in their decision-making, and that's what bothers me about the "strict constructionist" approach. But I find this subject fascinating, and I want to do some more research-- if I ever get the time (ugh!)
Paul,
I'll agree with you about Tony. We generally butt heads on just about everything, but he seems like a pretty good guy.
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