Judicial Liberal
The liberal judicial philosophy is marked by the belief that the U.S. Constitution is a living document which through the process of judicial review is open to new evaluation and modernization, that foreign law and precedent should be a factor in U.S. legal matters, and that certain rights or restrictions should be expanded. Politically, a liberal judicial philosophy can be associated with Progressivism, a desire for social reform. Due to their general support for strong protection of individual liberties, judicial liberals tend to be pro-choice and more restrictive in matters concerning the separation of church and state. Although certain Republican nominated justices have turned out to be judicial liberals, judicial liberals are generally nominated by Democrats.
Prominent Judicial Liberals on the Supreme Court include:
- Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Associate Justice Stephen Breyer
- Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor
- Associate Justice Elena Kagan
Prominent Judicial Liberals on the Court of Appeals include:
- Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr. of the Sixth Circuit
- Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit
- Judge Marsha S. Berzon of the Ninth Circuit
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Famous quotes containing the words judicial and/or liberal:
“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)
“I am not sure but I should betake myself in extremities to the liberal divinities of Greece, rather than to my country’s God. Jehovah, though with us he has acquired new attributes, is more absolute and unapproachable, but hardly more divine, than Jove. He is not so much of a gentleman, not so gracious and catholic, he does not exert so intimate and genial an influence on nature, as many a god of the Greeks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)