Law Commons^™

Choosing The Judges Who Choose The President, John C. Nagle

Journal Articles

The stakes for the selection of judges have never been so high. Federal and state court judges have ruled on such divisive issues as education funding, exclusionary zoning, capital punishment, same-sex marriages, school prayer, affirmative action, partial birth abortion, and legislative redistricting.

The selection of those who possess such awesome powers is bound to be contested. But the mode of choosing judges is a secondary question. The debate concerning the selection of judges is fueled by a broader debate about the appropriate role of judges.

The procedures for choosing those judges are caught up in this larger substantive debate, and …

Taking Lessons From The Left?: Judicial Activism On The Right, Stephen F. Smith

Journal Articles

The topic I would like to address in this essay is the subject of conservative judicial activism. Dismayed at the boldness of the Rehnquist Court's conservative majority in areas such as affirmative action and race-based redistricting, federalism, takings law, and my own field of constitutional criminal procedure, critics have accused the Court of being "activist." These attacks have become almost ubiquitous now, to the point that it is increasingly difficult to find any area of the Rehnquist Court's jurisprudence that has not been condemned as activist. Perhaps this is not surprising; the term "activism" packs a powerful rhetorical punch, especially …