The Dangers and Benefits of Judicial Activism

How Conservatives View Activist Judges

In many conservative circles the word “activist judge” has come to known as a curse word. Conservatives see “activist judges” as destroying many of the core tenants of American culture by: permitting abortion, allowing for the marriage of homosexual and transgendered people, and removing religious aspects from public life. Some conservatives have even gone so far to suggest that “activist judges” be arrested.

I would like to argue that not all judicial activism is bad, and in many cases it can be of great benefit to society. Without judicial activism America would be a very different place than it is now. Thanks in large part to what would now be known as “judicial activism” there is greater equality among American people, at least in terms of race. The ruling in Brown v. Board of Education led to the integration of public schools, which was very unpopular at the time. 

The Victory of Brown v. Board of Education

However, there have also been cases where judicial activism has been used to restrict the rights of the people or to undermine the core democratic values of America. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission the Supreme Court ruled that corporations can be treated as people, and therefore can donate unlimited amounts of money to shady Super Political Action Committees that are not “officially” tied to a candidate. This means that the wealthy can essentially buy an American election through almost unlimited resources. The candidates elected by these shadowy Super PACs will also be more likely to support bills that would benefit the interests of the Super PAC and the corporation behind them.

The Dangers of the Citizens United Case

I personally believe that judicial activism can be great for this country, as in Brown v. Board of Education. But there are also great dangers in Judicial Activism, such as in the Citizens United case. I believe that judicial activism should be used to increase equality in America and not be used to support the interests of the wealthy and powerful.  

The Dangers of the Presidential Pardon

The famous Anti-Federalist George Mason said when discussing the implementation of the Constitution in 1787 that “The President of the United States has the unrestrained Power of granting Pardon for Treason; which may be sometimes exercised to screen from Punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the Crime, and thereby prevent a Discovery of his own Guilt.” This statement foreshadowed the use of the Presidential Pardon for political reasons and self-preservation.

George Mason

Throughout history the power for the President to pardon or commute sentences has been abused, more so in recent years. The power to pardon or commute sentences has been used by Presidents to prevent: cronies, relatives, donors, and friends from serving the time they were convicted for or erasing the record of their crime entirely.

One of the most suspicious Presidential pardons was the one used by President Ford for Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon received a full pardon from President Ford, exempting him from any prosecutions that might have occurred for his involvement in Watergate and its subsequent cover-up. It was widely believed that Nixon agreed to resign with the condition of a guarantee that he would be pardoned for all crimes he committed while in office. This action prevented Nixon from being tried in the court of law and allowed Nixon to maintain all of the luxuries assigned to ex-Presidents.

President Gerald Ford

Another example of a President misusing the power to pardon people for political reasons was George Bush Sr. President George Bush Sr. pardoned multiple staffers and federal workers who took part in the Iran-Contra affair. The Iran-Contra Affair took place during the Reagan Administration, for which George Bush Sr. was Vice President. The scheme was fairly basic, the United States government would sell weapons to the Iranian government in order to secure the release of U.S. hostages taken in the country. The money generated from the sale of weapons would be used to fund insurgent Contras in Nicaragua in order to implement regime change and install a more U.S. friendly leader. The only problem was that Congress had forbidden the President from authorizing these actions. The Reagan Administration went through with the proposal anyways, although it is debatable how much Reagan and Bush Sr. knew of the affair.

A third example of a President misusing the power of the Presidential Pardon for political reasons was George W. Bush. Bush used the power to commute, but not pardon, the sentence of Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff “Scooter” Libby. Libby was convicted of leaking classified information about CIA agent Valeria Plame to the press in order to discredit her husband. Libby was convicted and sentenced to prison, but had his sentence commuted by Bush.

"Scooter" Libby

It is my personal opinion the Executive Branch has abused the Presidential Pardon too much. The Office of the President has used pardons far too liberally in the past for cases that involve former staffers or friends. These abuses show that there is no true justice in America. As long as you are connected, wealthy, or even an employee of the President you can escape justice, which undermines the judicial system as a whole. Although the above examples are some of the more extreme misuses of the Presidential Pardon I still believe that more oversight should be conducted in order to ensure that pardons are not used for corrupt purposes. 

For more information on Presidential Pardons visit this site for an interesting discussion.

Proper Etiquette for Interviews

An example of how to dress for an interview

Today our class had a speaker come in to explain more about the process of interviewing for jobs. Although I have had multiple interviews throughout my short career the speaker today gave incredibly helpful tips on how to succeed in a job interview that I found incredibly informative. The lecture today was especially relevant since I will be interviewing for internships soon. I will also graduate in December and will have to begin a job hunt if I decide not to go to graduate school. 

An example of what not to wear for an interview (no matter how cool you look wearing it)

The speaker today also gave a couple of websites that would be useful for searching for internships, something I will undoubtedly use since I am looking for an internship for the summer.

The speaker today asked some of us mock questions, that I have been asked in interviews before, and critiqued our responses to the question in order to isolate potential weaknesses for an interview. I found this part of the lecture to be especially useful on my part since I was told that I tend to sell myself short a bit and need to work on that for interviews. The speaker also gave advice on proper dress etiquette for an interview. Thanks to the advice given to me today I will be better prepared for when I have my next interview. 

The Misanthropy of the Founding Fathers

In today’s society most people tend to think of the Founding Fathers as near perfect individuals who, with idealism in their hearts, created the American Republic. This erroneous view has lead to the creation of populist fringe groups, such as the Tea Party movement, that stress what they believe are the core principles of the Founding Fathers and the concept of small government. These groups’ viewpoints couldn’t be further from the truth.

An example of the Tea Party Movement

Many of the Founding Fathers had a deep distrust of mankind as a whole and wanted to create a government with strong checks and balances to prevent mob rule. Some of the founding father’s, such as Ben Franklin, followed the philosophy of Hume who believed that “every man ought to be supposed a knave, and to have no other end, in all his actions, than private interest.” 

Another Founding Father, Hamilton, said that “Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions. There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest; and it will ever be the duty of wise government to avail itself of those passions, in order to make them subservient to the public good.” Hamilton’s viewpoint is that it is foolish to trust in the goodness of mankind and that it is more realistic to suppose that mankind is inherently governed by ambition and greed.

Alexander Hamilton

The Founding Fathers believed that in order to set up a stable and effective government it was important to limit the power of the common man. One of the examples of this was the fact that Senators were not elected by the people of the state they were from, but instead by state legislators. 

Another example of the Founding Fathers’ distrust in mankind was the setting up the Electoral College. Instead of having the President elected by a popular vote, the President was elected through the electoral college. The Electoral College is something that is still used to this day and still a hot topic, as seen in the 2000 Presidential Election where Al Gore won the popular vote but supposedly lost the Electoral vote. The Founding Fathers believed that by limiting the power of the common citizen they could prevent a situation where mob rule prevailed.

George W. Bush has the Founding Fathers to thank for his presidency

I tend to believe that the Founding Fathers, who had incredible faults of their own, where incredibly wise in their assessment of mankind. It is my personal belief that humans are inherently untrustworthy, greedy, and have their own interests above that of other people. By not trusting in the people of the United States the Founding Fathers created an institution that has survived to the present day. If the people were given too much power with their voting rights a dictator or oligarchy may well have eventually been swept into power. By limiting the power of the people in choosing their government the Founding Fathers forged a lasting institution that has survived relatively unscathed to the present day. This is a remarkable accomplishment considering the Founding Fathers formed America nearly two and a half centuries ago. 

Liberal vs. Conservative Interpretations of the Constitution

The Signing of the Constitution

Two of the main schools of thought on Constitutional Law scholarship that are still relevant to this day are the Conservative and Liberal schools of thought.

The Conservative school of thought tends to believe that when trying to interpret the Constitution it is important to emphasize the beliefs that the Founding Fathers had at the time of the signing of the Constitution. The Conservative school of thought also tends to have a stricter interpretation of the wording of the Constitution and believes in limited government. It would not be stretch to say that Conservatives tend to see the Constitution as a Bible, with the Founding Fathers as prophets. Conservatives tend to view so-called “activist judges,” that is judges that have a set agenda, with scorn and distrust.

An example of the deification of the Founding Fathers

The Liberal interpretation of the Constitution tends to be more flexible and open to interpretation. Liberals tend to see the Constitution as a living document, that is something that can evolve and change with the times. The Liberal school of thought also stresses the importance of individual liberties and has faith in the judicial system.

Liberals stress the importance of civil liberties

There are strengths and weaknesses to both schools of thought, but I tend to believe that the Liberal interpretation is the better one. The Conservative school of thought tends to idolize the Founding Fathers too much, to the point where the Founding Fathers undergo the process of deification. Conservatives tend to forget that the Constitution is a document that was not written by Prophets, but by regular men who had flaws. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other Founding Fathers were slave owners and far from perfect as human beings. 

The Founding Fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, were complex figures in American history

This idolization of the past is dangerous since it prevents the evolution of our country from taking place. I find that the deification of the Founding Fathers in itself is an extremely dangerous interpretation not just of the Constitution, but history in general. By believing that America is the “city upon the hill” it leads people to believe they are superior to others and ferments the idea of American Exceptionalism. This belief in turn leads to the resentment of other countries who do not appreciate when America acts superior to that of other countries. 

The problems caused by the deification of the Founding Fathers

The Liberal school of thought is a more valid interpretation since it sees the Constitution as something that must be more interpreted as time goes by. The society of today is vastly different from the times of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution should be viewed differently for different eras. 

A Critique of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Speech

Doris Kearns Goodwin

On Tuesday night, February 7, I attended a speech by Doris Kearns Goodwin at Aurora University. Doris Kearns Goodwin authored the book “Team of Rivals” about Lincoln and has written on Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals” has greatly influenced President Obama in his political thought and is currently being made into a movie. 

I expected that the speech would be yet another boring academic speech by a dreary intellectual who only wanted to sell more of their latest book. Although Goodwin did sell her books at the event I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the speech was extremely interesting. Goodwin was able to effectively engage her audience with amusing and hilarious anecdotes about past presidents. More than finding it just amusing I walked away from the speech with a greater intellectual understanding of history and a better person for it.

A Promo Picture for the new movie based on "Team of Rivals." Here is Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln.

One thing that struck me about the speech was her description of Lincoln and his spiritual beliefs. At a very young age Lincoln lost his mother and this incident affected his outlook on life. On his mother’s deathbed she told Lincoln that she would never see him again, even in the afterlife. This pessimistic view of the afterlife affected Lincoln and he struggled to find meaning in what his mother described as a meaningless world. Goodwin recounted that Lincoln eventually believed that by making a mark on history he could live long after he was gone in the memories of others. This belief led Lincoln to try to become a great figure who would be remembered for ages to come, something that he succeeded in brilliantly. The idea that if someone makes a mark on history they can live long past they have died is greatly appealing for a agnostic like myself. This thought makes me want to strive to do great things and be remembered for something in my life.

Another aspect of Goodwin’s speech that I found appealing was her emphasis on historical narrative. Goodwin talked abut the importance of being able to write well as a historian. Her advice on trying to forget how a historical event ends was very useful in that it allows the writer to tell of an event in an exciting way since they do not know how it will end.

Overall the speech by Goodwin was one of the most entertaining and intellectually enlightening speeches I have ever attended and I greatly look forward to reading and critiquing "Team of Rivals."

Different Teaching Styles

For a recent class assignment we were all asked to visit the exhibit “Lincoln, the Constitution, and the Civil War,” and teach aspects of the exhibit to a class. This assignment was interesting not in the way that I personally taught it, but in the way others taught the topic. Teaching can be very hard and making it interesting to students is itself a daunting challenge. Every person presenting in class had a different method of teaching. My method was to primarily use Lincoln’s quotes on certain issues to illustrate how he felt about the issues. Some people had mostly fact-based presentations like myself. Others had more interactive lessons planned for the class. One presentation in particular stood out in which the presenter asked us as a class to assemble a large amount of dates during the Civil War and match them to events that took place in the War. This activity was fun and engaged the whole class in the topic, while also teaching about the different events that took place during the Civil War. I realize now that although I am still proud of my presentation, it could have benefited by including more class interaction with the topics I covered.