Chief Justice Roberts = Chief Judicial Activist
 

r.f.

"queer rights"? Are you kidding me? Please explain how the supreme court has overstepped it's bounds with regards to "queer rights"?

After Alito is confirmed, I suspect we'll hear a lot of this from the liberals, as the conservative leaning court makes decisions which undo some of the damage done to the constitutions over the past decade or so.

If a judge considers himself a strict constructionist, and rules to overturn a precedent set by a prior court / judge that was a true judicial activist, does that make the new judge an "activist"?

r.f.

Robin, you're not a lawyer and probably don't understand how legal precedents evolve.

I have not read the opinion, only silly excerpts written by journalists. A decision to vote to overrule assisted suicide doesn't sound like too much judicial activism to, but as of this moment, I'd have to hear the legal arguments to be a fair judge of it.

And you're neither a lawyer nor a judge. so you're make herculean leaps in logic here, aren't you?

r.f.

Well, Mr. American Heritage Honors, it's your premise so what's your analysis? I am sure that your class discussed burden of proof, didn't it? If your opinion is indeed intelligent then I am sure you can offer some cogent analysis as to why Roberts' vote constitutes judicial activism.

r.f.

Of course this opinion deals with the interpretation and application of an exisiting federal statute that governs not the relationship of drs. and patients but the prescription of controlled substances to patients. Was the Ashcroft regime incorrect in their interpreation? Certainly 6 justices thought so. It is incorrect, however, to say that Roberts was being activist, at least IM-not-fully-informed-O. He simply contended that an existing statute applies not only to prevent the mis-prescription of controlled subtances for conditions that they are not intended to ameliorate, but also to efforts to kill.

Another way to look at this is this: If one ignores the fact that one likes or doesn't like the result of the opinion, what is it baout this opinion (or any other opinion, for that matter) that makes this deciison "activist?" Activism, after all, must be defined apart from the results in order to allow reasonable analysis, so how so you define it?

btw, sorry for the lame typing; not my strong suit.