Abstract
In my approach to the topic of judicial activism, I distinguish between the sins of judicial abdication, the refusal of judges to apply the law, and the more common contemporary sin of judicial usurpation, the use of the judicial office to legislate in the guise of adjudication. I discuss the forms usurpation can take and give some examples of usurpation by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Notes
- 1.
See, e.g., United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U.S. 144 (1938); Ferguson v. Skrupa, 372 U.S. 726 (1963); New York City Transit Authority v. Beazer, 440 U.S. 568 (1979).
- 2.
See, e.g., Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Oregon, 223 U.S. 118 (1912); Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S. 224 (1993).
- 3.
See Alexander (2012).
- 4.
See Alexander (2013).
- 5.
See Alexander (2012).
- 6.
See Alexander (2005).
- 7.
- 8.
See Alexander (2013).
- 9.
- 10.
410 U.S. 113 (1973).
- 11.
See, e.g., Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 704 F. Supp.2d 921 (N.D. Cal. 2010); Perry v. Brown, 671 F. 3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2012).
- 12.
See Westen (1982).
- 13.
See, e.g., the dissent of Justice Harlan in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964).
- 14.
See, e.g., Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130 (1872); Muller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412 (1908).
- 15.
See Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964) (voting); Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971) (sex discrimination).
- 16.
See, e.g., Levy (1960).
- 17.
See, e.g., Smith (1995).
- 18.
See, e.g., Claus (2004).
References
Alexander, Larry and Kress, Kenneth. 1995. Against Legal Principles. In Law and Interpretation: Essays in Legal Philosophy, ed. Andrei Marmor. New York: Oxford University Press.
Alexander, Larry. 2005. Is There a Right of Freedom of Expression? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Alexander, Larry. 2012. Legal Objectivity and the Illusion of Legal Principles. In Institutionalized Reason: The Jurisprudence of Robert Alexy, ed. Matthias Klatt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alexander, Larry. 2013. The Objectivity of Morality, Rules, and Law: A Conceptual Map. Alabama Law Review 65:501–517.
Claus, Laurence. 2004. The Anti-Discrimination Eighth Amendment. Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 28:119–168.
Levy, Leonard. 1960. Legacy of Suppression. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University.
Smith, Steven. 1995. Foreordained Failure. New York: Oxford University Press.
Westen, Peter. 1982. The Empty Idea of Equality. Harvard Law Review 95:537–596.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Steve Smith for his comments on an early draft, to LuÃs Pereira Coutinho for inviting me and organizing the conference on judicial activism at which this paper was originally presented, to all the participants at the conference for their comments, and to the Universidade de Lisboa for hosting the conference. And thanks to Sieun Lee for her assistance.
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Alexander, L.A. (2015). Judicial Activism: Clearing the Air and the Head. In: Coutinho, L., La Torre, M., Smith, S. (eds) Judicial Activism. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 44. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18549-1_2
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