Quote:
Originally Posted by smoothmoniker
Setting aside the political perspectives on individual issues, do you think it more likely that Obama's potential nominations to the Supreme Court will be constructionists, or judicial activists?
It seems much more likely to me that a key litmus test for any supreme court nominee that passes through nomination by Obama and approval by a Democratic senate will be that judges' willingness to expand the power of the federal government in interpreting the constitution.
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I suppose that would depend on what you consider a judicial activist to be. Some people have used that term to describe the judges in California and Massachusetts who overturned the ban on gay marriage when nothing could be further from the truth.
I consider Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito to all be activist judges who think they have the authority to ignore the Constitution when it is in favor of governmental "interests". They are granted no such power by the Constitution.
I'd certainly hope that any judges nominated by Obama will defend the
RIGHT of a woman to get an abortion at any stage of pregnancy for any reason, or no reason she wants without any permission, notification, or oversight from any other person, group of people, or government entity. I'd like to see more judges who recognize that there are limits on what the government may or may not do, and which laws it may or may not create.