Judicial Conservative
The conservative judicial philosophy is marked by the belief that judges should not make policy decisions properly left by the text of the U.S. Constitution to the executive and legislative branches of government. Some judicial conservatives adhere to the idea of originalism, a method of legal interpretation which states that the original intent and/or meaning of the Constitution was fixed by the Founding Fathers of the United States and cannot be changed except by the amendment process. They believe that, through the process of judicial review, certain legal rights or restrictions have been taken by modern judges far beyond what was intended by the Founding Fathers. Many judicial conservatives also believe that foreign law and precedent should not be a factor in U.S. legal matters.
Politically, a conservative judicial philosophy can in addition be associated with Conservatism, a defense of established values. As a result, many judicial conservatives believe that "traditional moral values" are important in legal interpretation, and therefore tend to be pro-life and more lenient with matters concerning the separation of church and state. Judicial conservatives are almost always nominated by Republicans.
Prominent Judicial Conservatives on the Supreme Court include:
- Chief Justice John Roberts
- Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
- Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
- Associate Justice Samuel Alito
Prominent Judicial Conservatives on the Courts of Appeals include:
- Judge Edith Jones of the Fifth Circuit
- Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit
- Judge William Pryor of the Eleventh Circuit
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Famous quotes containing the words judicial and/or conservative:
“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted in the air. A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs, who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest ... of his head.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)