IJ on "The Myth of Judicial Activism"

(Jonathan H. Adler)

The Institute for Justice has a new report examining the rate at which the Supreme Court overturns laws and regulations. Clark Neily summarizes in the WSJ:

Over the 50-year period from 1954 to 2003, Congress enacted 16,015 laws, of which the Supreme Court struck down 104—just two-thirds of 1%. The court struck down an even smaller proportion of federal administrative regulations—about 0.5%—and a still smaller proportion of state laws: 455 out of one million laws passed, or less than one-twentieth of 1%.

In fact, on an annual basis, the Supreme Court struck down only three out of every 5,000 state and federal laws passed. Compared with the explosive growth of government, the Supreme Court's efforts to impose constitutional limits on the legislative and executive branches are barely blips on the radar screen. . . .

Our Constitution imposes significant limits on government power—limits that are not being properly enforced because too many judges have adopted an ethic of reflexive deference toward the other branches of government. What America needs instead is a properly engaged judiciary that understands the importance of constitutionally limited government and refuses to be cowed by empirically baseless accusations of judicial activism.