Constitutional Law

Sunstein on Judicial Partisanship and Activism

Who are the “activist judges” on the U.S. Supreme Court and are lower federal courts filled with similar judges? Cass R. Sunstein, a Harvard Law School professor, and some of his colleagues, pored over 20,000 judicial decisions to come up with answers. In a piece for The Washington Independent, Sunstein wrote:

We investigated which members of the Supreme Court are the most partisan – in that they are more likely to vote in favor of conservative agency decisions than liberal ones. We wanted to see if some justices are more political in their voting patterns than others – and also learn something about how future administrations are likely to fare in the Supreme Court.

We wanted to know: Is it true that liberal justices are more partisan than conservatives? Who is the most partisan member of the Supreme Court? Who the most neutral?

Our answers: Justice Clarence Thomas wins the Partisanship Award. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wins the Neutrality Award.

Additionally, Sunstein argues that “partisan voting is a serious problem on the federal judiciary. If the EPA issues a regulation that is aggressive in cleaning air, or if the National Labor Relations Board resolves a dispute in favor of a union, a panel that consists of solely of Republican appointees is unusually inclined to strike it down.”

Full post as published by ACS Blog on August 01, 2008 (boomark / email).