Prometheus 6

...the supposed distinction between activist liberals and color-inside-the-constitutional-lines conservatives is not only phony but often backward. In its first 200 years, the Supreme Court struck down fewer than 130 acts of Congress; in the past 13 years, it has overturned more than 30, including a piece of McCain's signature campaign-finance law. This behavior is hardly the "humility" McCain argues should be restored to federal courts.

Last year, the court told school districts that they could not adopt voluntary integration plans that use race as a factor in assigning students. Talk about legislating from the bench. I don't recall McCain complaining then that the court was intruding "on policy questions that should be decided democratically." 

High Court Caricature
By Ruth Marcus
Wednesday, May 14, 2008; A19

The court stepped in, summarily overturning laws in 16 states. Tossing aside evidence that the constitutional provision was never intended to apply to the situation at hand, the court instead looked to what it grandly described as the "broader, organic purpose of a constitutional amendment."

Another example of "unelected judges" demonstrating "little regard for the authority of . . . the states" and "even less interest in the will of the people"? Of judges, unconstrained by constitutional text or history, turning to " 'emanations' . . . and other airy constructs the court has employed over the years as poor substitutes for clear and rigorous constitutional reasoning"?