Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Judicial Activism

Ed Brayton has a wonderful blog called Dispatches from the Culture Wars, which he calls "thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law, and culture". He covers a lot on all of these topics from a Libertarian/Liberal perspective. He has a great way of quoting an idiotic argument and then explaining WHY it is idiotic. The post I'm interested in today is on "judicial activism" and conservatives calling the Iowa court decision on gay marriage by that term. Here's the important part:

"If activism just means a court is overturning the "will of the people" then virtually all court rulings are activist. Any court ruling that overturns legislation would, under this definition, be "activist." Yet conservatives have no problem going to court to overturn legislation they disagree with, like California's medical marijuana referendum or Oregon's assisted suicide initiative."

Good talking point if you have to discuss these issues with a conservative.

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