If You're in CO, check this event out on October 6th.
Posted by jmlesniewski 13 years, 6 months ago to Government
"Extended description of Dr Daniel's talk:
The judicial branch of our government is a crucial component in the system that the Founders designed to uphold and protect our rights. Without judges who enforce the Constitution and limit the scope of government authority, our rights would not be secure. Yet today, judges frequently abdicate their responsibility to limit government and protect rights. Politicians from both sides of the spectrum chastise judges for engaging in "judicial activism," and judges have responded by curtailing the scope of their decisions to ever narrower grounds. As this has happened, our rights have become less secure and the power of the Constitution as a check on government power has diminished, and government itself has grown into leviathan like proportions. As the pending litigation over the Health Care Reform Bill illustrates, judges and their decisions will affect the lives and livelihood of millions of Americans.
This lecture will examine the idea of judicial engagement as a proper approach to the protection of individual rights. In today's political context, both sides of the political divide have failed to defend the proper approach. Democrats and Republicans trot out the "judicial activism" charge whenever it suits them, meaning little more than "a decision I don't like." As the presidential campaign begins and politicians from both parties begin proposing ways to fix the broken courts, it is ever more important that judges adopt the proper approach and become engaged defenders of individual rights. By examining how the courts arrived at this passive, deferential approach, this lecture will also illustrate the work that remains to be done to recapture the courts as defenders of rights--the role originally envisioned by the Founders."
The judicial branch of our government is a crucial component in the system that the Founders designed to uphold and protect our rights. Without judges who enforce the Constitution and limit the scope of government authority, our rights would not be secure. Yet today, judges frequently abdicate their responsibility to limit government and protect rights. Politicians from both sides of the spectrum chastise judges for engaging in "judicial activism," and judges have responded by curtailing the scope of their decisions to ever narrower grounds. As this has happened, our rights have become less secure and the power of the Constitution as a check on government power has diminished, and government itself has grown into leviathan like proportions. As the pending litigation over the Health Care Reform Bill illustrates, judges and their decisions will affect the lives and livelihood of millions of Americans.
This lecture will examine the idea of judicial engagement as a proper approach to the protection of individual rights. In today's political context, both sides of the political divide have failed to defend the proper approach. Democrats and Republicans trot out the "judicial activism" charge whenever it suits them, meaning little more than "a decision I don't like." As the presidential campaign begins and politicians from both parties begin proposing ways to fix the broken courts, it is ever more important that judges adopt the proper approach and become engaged defenders of individual rights. By examining how the courts arrived at this passive, deferential approach, this lecture will also illustrate the work that remains to be done to recapture the courts as defenders of rights--the role originally envisioned by the Founders."
