Claims of judicial activism are common from both the right and the left, but they are seldom scrutinized systematically. Prior tests of judicial activism published in law reviews have typically involved analysis of frequency distributions reflecting the number of cases in which Justices voted to invalidate statutes. Such data provide a rough guide but omit any consideration of the “legitimacy” of the statute at issue; indeed, a decision to strike a plainly unconstitutional statute is appropriate rather than activist. To provide a more nuanced measure of activism, we compute a score for each Justice that accounts for the degree to which the votes to strike legislative enactments show a consistent ideological direction, the degree to which the votes ignore the Solicitor General’s position, and the degree of unanimity associated with a decision striking a statutory enactment. This approach provides a somewhat more refined measure of the comparative activism of the recent Justices which demonstrates that liberal Justices in both the Burger and Rehnquist Courts were generally more activist decision makers, although during the last eleven years of the Rehnquist Court several conservative Justices emerged as particularly activist, even when compared to their more liberal brethren.
News & Events
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Volume 97 Lead Piece Profiled in New York Times
The Volume 97 Lead Piece, a study of how the Supreme Court treats business interests by distinguished legal scholars Lee Epstein, William M. Landes, and Richard A. Posner, was profiled in the May 5, 2013 edition of the New York Times. The story, titled Corporations Find a Friend in the Supreme Court, [...]
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Volume 98 Spring Submissions Closed
The Minnesota Law Review has closed the spring submissions period for Volume 98. Submissions for Volume 98 will reopen on Thursday, August 1. Please see the submissions page for more details.
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Volume 98 Submissions Will Open Feb. 15
The Minnesota Law Review will begin accepting submissions for Volume 98 on Friday, February 15, 2013. Please see this page for more details.
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Minnesota Law Review Announces Volume 98 Editorial Board
The Minnesota Law Review is pleased to announce its Volume 98 editorial board, headed by Editor in Chief Jake Vandelist.
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Minnesota Law Review Announces 2013 Symposium Topic
The Minnesota Law Review is pleased to announce that its 2013 symposium will address the legal and political issues facing organized labor in the United States. The symposium will be held at the University of Minnesota Law School on October 25, 2013.
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