"Activist Courts"

[jwetzel]

Are courts supposed to be "activist courts?" I started thinking about this in class today and want to look into this further. Comments from the peanut gallery appreciated.

Comments

[fotoplasma]

"Supposed to be"? Define "activist court" and there will be a group who agrees with your definition and a group who disagrees with it. From the people who agree with your definition, you could ask that question, and I have a hunch that you'll get a negative response.

I take issue with the term, to some degree, though I'm certainly willing to admit that some courts have and do overstep their boundaries.

[jwetzel]

Sam read that and went "Courts are not activist, Judges are."

[fotoplasma]

lol

[lil_lavery]

I'm against Judicial activism. The Judicial branch was established to interpret and help enforce the laws, not create new ones or modify existing laws.
That being said, what one interprets as activism is also a flexible term. Was Brown v. Board of Education judicial activism? Many can present a very reasonable argument that it was. And I think that the court made the correct ruling there. So now that I think about it....
....who knows?

[myaudience]

As I remember (It's been a long time since I took the class that covered this), Active and Passive are terms to describe the kind of court. As in, if a court generation operates like this its an activist court, if a court operates this way its a passivist court. I'm dredging this up from years ago so don't qoute me on it or anything, but this is what I seem to remember. They don't HAVE to be anything, its just a way of describing their process. An Activist court would be one that does not always follow precedent, but sets precedent. A Passivist court is one that is more likely to follow already set pecedent. I think. If you find anything different, remind me, becuase I swear I knew this very well once.

[myaudience]

So in response to the question, it depends on the situation. I don't think a court should ALWAYS be held down to precedent, but I also think that in some cases the fact that there is a precedent set should be a big factor. It all depends on the situation.