King Brown said: Michael, what do we mean by a liberal or newly conservative Supreme Court, if activism isn't part of it?
King,
When the Supreme Court has 6 out of 11 justices that vote to make up a law (like the woman's right to an abortion, for an example) that did not exist before because the guys who wrote the Constitution did not put it there, that is what I call "activist." With a "constructionist" court (which we are slightly closer to now) the justices would not have found the abortion question in the Constitution (because it ain't there) and would have remanded the issue back to the states and the people - as the 10th amendment directs. Then the process of trying to convince friends and neighbors that the law is a good one would start. If enough agree, their elected officials would be directed to pass a law allowing the same.
I guess I look at an "activist" as not giving a darn how they get what they want, as long as they get it. Most liberal democrats are activists. Constructionists believe in "the process" as outlined in the Constitution. Most all conservatives are constructionists. Justice Antonin Scalia is a constructionists. Justice Ginsburg is the other.
Michael
