Articles

Weekly litigation report — October 14, 2016

October 15, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

Victory in free speech case The City of San Juan Capistrano agreed this week to stop enforcing it’s ban on putting “for sale” signs in car windows in Cefali v. San Juan Capistrano. Because any other sort of sign is allowed, we argued that this sort of content-based restriction on speech violates the First Amendment. … ...

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Would you prefer a passive judiciary?

February 10, 2015 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

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 ...

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Challenging the Dogma of Deference

October 09, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Our Constitution includes several ingenious mechanisms for protecting individual rights—checks and balances, the separation of powers, federalism, enumerated powers, the Bill of Rights. Central to these was the idea of an active and independent judiciary, which would contribute its part by balancing the other branches and ensuring the legality of ...

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O'Reilly right that Robert's opinion was an example of judicial restraint; wrong that we should forgive it for that reason

July 06, 2012 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

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 ...

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From activism to abdication : The Ninth Circuit upholds a law protecting ophthalmologists from legitimate competition.

June 20, 2012 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

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 … ...

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Justice Stevens' environmental law legacy

April 16, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Damien M. Schiff Grist.com has this fairly well-balanced piece by Doug Kendall lauding retiring Justice John Paul Stevens' judicial decisions dealing with environmental law issues over his three-decade-plus tenure on the Supreme Court.  The article's thesis is that Justice Stevens universally practiced "deference to ...