Comments on: Judicial Conservatism, Liberalism, Activism, Restraint, and Everything in Between http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2010/06/judicial-conservatism-liberalism-activism-restraint-and-everything-in-between.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:16:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Frank http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2010/06/judicial-conservatism-liberalism-activism-restraint-and-everything-in-between.html/comment-page-1#comment-71861 Frank Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:09:53 +0000 http://www.concurringopinions.com/?p=30374#comment-71861 Thank you for this series. I recently went to an ELS workshop, and I was a bit surprised by the emphasis there on using extant quantitative data, rather than developing one's own. By contrast, Ian Shapiro has complained that, in some "method-driven work . . . the construction of the problem is contaminated by the methods available to the researcher." at http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8083.html Shapiro also states that when "esoteric forms of redescription are involved, they must elucidate the links to more familiar understandings of politics." So I guess my question would be: is there a point at which a judge's activism or ideology score would make them unfit to serve, or would cause us to question the legitimacy of decisions they contributed to? Thank you for this series. I recently went to an ELS workshop, and I was a bit surprised by the emphasis there on using extant quantitative data, rather than developing one’s own. By contrast, Ian Shapiro has complained that, in some “method-driven work . . . the construction of the problem is contaminated by the methods available to the researcher.”
at http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8083.html

Shapiro also states that when “esoteric forms of redescription are involved, they must elucidate the links to more familiar understandings of politics.” So I guess my question would be: is there a point at which a judge’s activism or ideology score would make them unfit to serve, or would cause us to question the legitimacy of decisions they contributed to?

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