Why a non-partisan Judicial branch is good for progressives

[Pushed To The Left]

The true test of non-partisan Justices would be their ability to put their emotions aside and make rulings based on the law. Far-right legislation tends to be based mostly on strong emotion. Fear, anger, and prejudice drive voters and elected officials to support laws without taking the Constitution and the civil rights of others into consideration. When you take the emotion out of most far-right issues, especially "wedge issues", there really isn't much left. A Justice doesn't have to be a "liberal activist" to rule against an unconstitutional law.

[expatriot]

1. all judges believe their rulings to be constitutional

my take on the whole deal:


Judges believe their rulings to be correct interpretations of constitutional law just as preachers believe their sermons to be correct interpretations of the biblical teachings and just as one's political ideology affects one's interpretation and application of biblical teachings, so does one's interpretation of the Constitution. And just as parts of the bible contradict eachother, so do parts of Constitution. Just as liberal theologians focus on the "spirit" of the New Testament while conservatives focus on the Letter of the Law of the Patriach's Old Testament, liberal judges focus on the "spirit" of the Constitution as a living document, especially with the "equal access" of the 14th Amendment, etc. while conservatives focus on the founder's original intent of limiting federal government, etc.

There is no wrong or right interpretation of the Constitution in and of itself, but rather it is by nature a political interpretation and you cannot divorce it from what it is.

The Supreme Court is the supreme interpreter of the Law while the further down you go in the system the more restricted a judges' freedom of interepretation is or I should say the more likely his decision will be checked by a higher court on and on until it gets to the Supreme Court where that process ends, the only checks on the Supreme Court are, aptly enough, political ones.