Comments on: Steve Teles at FireDogLake http://crookedtimber.org/2009/03/29/steve-teles-at-firedoglake/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:43:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Henry http://crookedtimber.org/2009/03/29/steve-teles-at-firedoglake/comment-page-1/#comment-271087 Henry Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:21:40 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=10274#comment-271087 One of the interesting things about the book is that it points up a lot of already-existing lawyerly activism on the right - the eminent domain stuff is a good case in point. And I think that David 'Lochner was teh Awsum' Bernstein is due to come out with something new soon (no doubt to be heralded by thirty odd posts exhorting Volokh readers to buy the book). One of the interesting things about the book is that it points up a lot of already-existing lawyerly activism on the right – the eminent domain stuff is a good case in point. And I think that David ‘Lochner was teh Awsum’ Bernstein is due to come out with something new soon (no doubt to be heralded by thirty odd posts exhorting Volokh readers to buy the book).

]]> By: John Quiggin http://crookedtimber.org/2009/03/29/steve-teles-at-firedoglake/comment-page-1/#comment-271012 John Quiggin Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:48:58 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=10274#comment-271012 I couldn't register at FDL, and the topic I wanted to raise hadn't come up as far as I saw. Teles refers to the "heroic" conception of lawyers, and I guess the mirror image of this is the "judicial activist" so dreaded by conservatives. A couple of questions occur to me: First, now that the 'conservatives' have the majority on a lot of courts, will we see more activism from their side. The 2nd amendment cases are one instance, but I can imagine them trying to revive Lochner, if the crisis hadn't made that kind of thing politically inopportune. Second, I have the impression that the results of heroic lawyers aren't as durable as those of successful legislators (Roe v Wade stands as a counterexample, but the same outcome has occurred in lots of countries, by different legal processes). I couldn’t register at FDL, and the topic I wanted to raise hadn’t come up as far as I saw. Teles refers to the “heroic” conception of lawyers, and I guess the mirror image of this is the “judicial activist” so dreaded by conservatives.

A couple of questions occur to me:

First, now that the ‘conservatives’ have the majority on a lot of courts, will we see more activism from their side. The 2nd amendment cases are one instance, but I can imagine them trying to revive Lochner, if the crisis hadn’t made that kind of thing politically inopportune.

Second, I have the impression that the results of heroic lawyers aren’t as durable as those of successful legislators (Roe v Wade stands as a counterexample, but the same outcome has occurred in lots of countries, by different legal processes).

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