Posted by Orin Kerr:
Is Justice Stevens a Judicial Conservative?:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_12_31-2007_01_06.shtml#1167783539
In a [1]recent interview with Jan Crawford Greenburg, Justice Stevens
stated that [2]he sees himself as a "moderate conservative" Justice:
Although Stevens is a maverick thinker who has proven to be
surprisingly liberal and has kept the court from moving further to
the right, today the justice said he stills sees himself as a
conservative.
"I don't really think I've changed. I think there have been a lot
of changes in the court." said the 86 year old Justice. "I can see
myself as a conservative, to tell you the truth, a judicial
conservative."
My guess is that this will draw strong reactions from both sides of
the political spectrum. I gather some conservatives will insist it is
more proof that Stevens is out to lunch, and I gather some liberals
will insist it is more proof that today's 'conservatives' are really
lunatic neanderthals.
I wonder, though, whether Stevens' self-perception is just a
reflection of the what the phrase "judicial conservative" used to
mean. Oversimplifying things a lot, in the 1960s and 1970s judicial
liberals were the folks who favored the courts bringing about dramatic
changes to the foundations of American law. In contrast, judicial
conservatives were the folks who favored resisting those changes. The
Justices who embraced some dramatic changes but rejected others were
the moderate conservatives.
I don't know whether Justice Stevens has this history in mind when
he labels himself a "moderate conservative." As far as I know, he was
not asked to define what he meant by the label. But if he has this
somewat outdated framework in mind, then it doesn't seem particularly
inaccurate to me.
For my thoughts on the modern usage of such terms, see my earlier
post, [3]How Can You Tell if A Justice is 'Liberal' or 'Conservative'?
Thanks to [4]How Appealing for the link.
References
1. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2765753&page=1
2. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2765753&page=1
3. http://volokh.com/posts/1163447802.shtml
4. http://howappealing.law.com/010207.html#020847
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