Roberts on Judicial Restraint
Here is a draft article written by Judge Roberts from his time in the Reagan administration. It was released by the national archives (HT to Confirm Them). If Roberts still holds these views some 20 years later then he will make a fine trustee of the Constitution if confirmed by the Senate.
Here are a couple of excerpts
"The greatest threat to judicial independence occurs when the courts flout the basis for their independence by exceeding their constitutionally limited role and the bounds of their expertise by engaging in policymaking committed to the elected branches or the states. When courts fail to exercise self-restraint and instead enter the political realms reserved to the elected branches, they subject themselves to the political pressure endemic to that arena and invite popular attack. Recently, Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit expressed a "sense of relief" upon learning that the federal government would raise arguments designed to limit courts to their proper role rather than thrust them further into the domains of the elected branches..."
"...Our concern is not with results in a particular case; it is with the institutional role of the courts in our federal system and the scheme of separation of powers. Our effort, therefore, will focus on the procedures and approaches which help define the judicial role. We will, specifically, urge courts to observe strictly the requirements of justiciability, to avoid testing the constitutionality of laws by those devices which permit ready intrusion into the domain of the legislature, and to exercise restraint in the formulation of equitable decrees."
"...Throughout history and to this day both liberal and conservative interests have sought to enlist an activist judiciary in the achievement of goals which were not obtainable through normal political processes...Now different groups urge judges to substitute their own policy choices for those of federal and state legislatures, but the evils of judicial activism remain the same regardless of the political ends the activism seeks to serve."
Read the Rest...
Here are a couple of excerpts
"The greatest threat to judicial independence occurs when the courts flout the basis for their independence by exceeding their constitutionally limited role and the bounds of their expertise by engaging in policymaking committed to the elected branches or the states. When courts fail to exercise self-restraint and instead enter the political realms reserved to the elected branches, they subject themselves to the political pressure endemic to that arena and invite popular attack. Recently, Judge Malcolm Wilkey of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit expressed a "sense of relief" upon learning that the federal government would raise arguments designed to limit courts to their proper role rather than thrust them further into the domains of the elected branches..."
"...Our concern is not with results in a particular case; it is with the institutional role of the courts in our federal system and the scheme of separation of powers. Our effort, therefore, will focus on the procedures and approaches which help define the judicial role. We will, specifically, urge courts to observe strictly the requirements of justiciability, to avoid testing the constitutionality of laws by those devices which permit ready intrusion into the domain of the legislature, and to exercise restraint in the formulation of equitable decrees."
"...Throughout history and to this day both liberal and conservative interests have sought to enlist an activist judiciary in the achievement of goals which were not obtainable through normal political processes...Now different groups urge judges to substitute their own policy choices for those of federal and state legislatures, but the evils of judicial activism remain the same regardless of the political ends the activism seeks to serve."
Read the Rest...
posted by Lil' Mermaid | 2:26 PM
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