The Law and the Courts: Judges

"There is no power above them, to control any of their decisions. There is no authority that can remove them, and they cannot be controlled by the laws of the legislature. In short, they are independent of the people, of the legislature, and of every power under heaven. Men placed in this situation will generally soon feel themselves independent of heaven itself." - Robert Yates ("Brutus"), Anti-Federalist Papers XV, 1788.

Activist judges who manufacture new constitutional rights out of whole cloth and legislate their own social policy preferences from the bench have infuriated Americans for far too long, bringing the subject of selection of judges to the forefront of the current culture war and political debate. This section will explore the selection of our state and federal judges, from state judicial voter guides to Senate confirmation proceedings. It will discuss judicial philosophies such as "living Constitutions" and "originalism" that guide judges in making their decisions, and highlight specific judges, good and bad, in an attempt to educate and inform.