Articles

Reason has published my column responding to the hubbub surrounding Sen. Rand Paul’s remarks (and Cass Sunstein’s) about “judicial activism” and “judicial restraint.” Here’s a taste: Senator Rand Paul’s recent remarks about “judicial restraint” have shaken up both left and right, but any ...

Kermit Roosevelt, David Upham, Sandhya Bathija and I are still mixing it up on the subject of judicial activism and judicial restraint over at Cato Unbound. My latest post, “Rational Basis Scrutiny Is Just A Stupid Rock,” is available here. … ...

Courts typically avoid ruling on constitutional issues unless it is necessary to decide a case. There are several reasons for this practice, not the least of which is that ruling on controversial constitutional matters when the case can be resolved on less controversial statutory grounds can make the court look political, or lend credence to ̷ ...

This week Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly rightly pointed out that Justice Robert’s opinion upholding the individual mandate under the taxing power could be construed as a conservative opinion.  However, Bill went on to imply that Justice Robert’s opinion should be forgiven as merely a mistaken application of a strain of con ...

Over the years, the Ninth Circuit has developed a reputation in some circles for Judicial Activism (i.e. substituting its opinion for that of the legislature in matters that are none of its concern). However, last week the court’s opinion in National Association of Optometrists v. Harris showed that it is just as apt at avoiding … ...

Recently, bloggers and even the Texas Land Commissioner were decrying several Texas Supreme Court Justices for their “extreme activism” in ruling in favor of property owners in Severance v. Patterson. What was the reason for this outrage? Simple: the Court found that if the state wished to declare that Mrs. Severance’s private pr ...

Cato’s Ilya Shapiro and I have an article on Forbes.com about President Obama’s recent comments that “activist” judges shouldn’t strike down the Individual Mandate: Everyone disagrees with Supreme Court decisions from time to time.  But Americans understand that majorities are not always right, and that our Court play ...

Here is the letter brief that the Obama Administration was required to file in response to questions about the President’s comments regarding judicial review. … ...