Re: Everything you need to know about Judge Alito

Randy Barnett also points out that the “conservative” idea of “judicial restraint” is a New Deal-era doctrine holding that federal judges should defer to Congress over the clear meaning of the Constitution. “In Gonzales [the decision empowering the feds to ban medical marijuana], Justice Scalia endorses the Roosevelt New Deal Court’s approach to [the Necessary and Proper Clause,] while Justice Thomas endorses Madison’s approach. To the extent that we can predict justices Roberts and Alito will side with Roosevelt/Scalia over Madison/Thomas, then their appointments represent the triumph (once again) of Rooseveltian judicial restraint over the text and original meaning of the actual Constitution. It is hard to be cheerful about this development.”

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12:04 pm on November 3, 2005