Supreme Facts

New York Times article about the definition of activist judges.

When Democrats or Republicans seek to criticize judges or judicial nominees, they often resort to the same language. They say that the judge is "activist." But the word "activist" is rarely defined. Often it simply means that the judge makes decisions with which the critic disagrees.

In order to move beyond this labeling game, we've identified one reasonably objective and quantifiable measure of a judge's activism, and we've used it to assess the records of the justices on the current Supreme Court.

Here is the question we asked: How often has each justice voted to strike down a law passed by Congress?

Here's the score, percentage of times voted to strike down:
Thomas 65.63 %
Kennedy 64.06 %
Scalia 56.25 %
Rehnquist 46.88 %
O’Connor 46.77 %
Souter 42.19 %
Stevens 39.34 %
Ginsburg 39.06 %
Breyer 28.13 %

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/opinion/06gewirtz.htm...

July 4th - Independence Day

I support the troops.

Independence Day here has been turned into a support the troops day. We honor the troops on Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. I think July 4th should be different. We should celebrate the USA. I suppose someone will try to tell me they're fighting for our freedom. In my opinion that's not what this occupation is about. My freedom was not threatened by Iraq.