When is the supreme court especially activist

Privacy Copyright. Skip to main content University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame Law Review. Authors Keith E. Abstract Not too many years ago, scholars could reasonably speak of the U.

Recommended Citation Keith E. Included in Constitutional Law Commons. Sign up here for updates about the Press. When conservatives took control of the federal judiciary in the s, it was widely assumed that they would reverse the landmark rights-protecting precedents set by the Warren Court and replace them with a broad commitment to judicial restraint.

Instead, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice William Rehnquist has reaffirmed most of those liberal decisions while creating its own brand of conservative judicial activism. Ranging from to the present, The Most Activist Supreme Court in History traces the legal and political forces that have shaped the modern Court. Keck argues that the tensions within modern conservatism have produced a court that exercises its own power quite actively, on behalf of both liberal and conservative ends.

Despite the long-standing conservative commitment to restraint, the justices of the Rehnquist Court have stepped in to settle divisive political conflicts over abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, presidential elections, and much more.

Reviews "Provocative. The book has received some attention in the blogosphere as well, with discussions on FiveThirtyEight. The author discusses the book in interviews at The American Prospect and Offoffoff.

The book is available for purchase from the University of Chicago Press , Amazon. Reviews Research Updates Order Online When conservatives took control of the federal judiciary in the s, it was widely assumed that they would reverse the landmark rights-protecting precedents set by the Warren Court and replace them with a broad commitment to judicial restraint.