Bobzhuman

A Lesson in “Judicial Activism”
Posted by Cam Edwards at his blog on December 21, 2005 - 10:41 am

The Brady Center came out (shockingly, I know) in opposition to the nomination of Samuel Alito yesterday. And in typical fashion, the anti-gun group manages to combine skillful hyperbole with a refusal to acknowledge the facts. Here’s what they wrote in their press release.

Dennis Henigan, Director of the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project, remarked, “Judge Alito’s conclusion that the federal machine gun ban is unconstitutional is right-wing judicial activism at its worst. He demonstrated no respect for the judgment of Congress in seeking to protect the public from the grave dangers of fully automatic weapons.”

And there in a nutshell is the Left’s definition of judicial activism. They believe when a judge strikes down a law, it’s judicial activism. That’s not activism, that’s being a judge. I don’t want Samuel Alito or any other judge to show more respect for the “judgment of Congress” than the Constitution.

Compare what Samuel Alito did in this case (determining that Congress was using the Commerce Clause to prohibit “possession” of an item) versus what Judge Colleen Kotar-Kelley did with McCain/Feingold campaign finance “reform”. The original law was passed without any mention of regulating political speech on the internet, yet Kotar-Kelley ordered the FEC to regulate political speech on the internet regardless of what the original legislation said. That’s not interpreting a law… that’s rewriting it. And that’s judicial activism.

Oh, as to the substance of Judge Alito’s ruling: The Brady folks got that wrong as well.