Debates about U.S. Supreme Court politics often involve competing blocs of conservative and liberal justices. But that focus on left versus right misses an important constitutional debate among right-of-center thinkers.
Damon Root, senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com, focused on that latter debate during a speech Thursday in Raleigh for the Triangle Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Based on his new book, Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court., Root’s speech contrasted conservative and libertarian strains of constitutional theory.
Typified by the late Judge Robert Bork, Root’s conservatives argue for judicial restraint and an adherence to the text of the U.S. Constitution. In contrast, Root’s libertarian legal movement argues for a more activist or engaged judiciary that is more willing to strike down laws that violate individual rights, even if those rights are not spelled out directly in the constitutional text.
Click play below to watch the 55-minute presentation.