Constitutional Rights
Government can be freedom’s best friend when it protects citizens’ constitutional rights. Here’s how the Goldwater Institute is ensuring your rights are protected.
By ANJANETTE RILEY
Long-time supporters and patrons of the Goldwater Institute, an Arizona-based conservative think-tank, gathered Feb. 4 with great anticipation to meet Richard Epstein, the rock star of legal scholarship.
I am a groupie of two people in this world: Paul McCartney and Richard Epstein, said Clint Bolick, director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute.
Noted conservatives Al Regnery, Mickey Edwards and David Boaz last week discussed the future of the conservative movement at a Goldwater Institute forum.
The three talked with Viewpoints Editor Joe Garcia before the event.
In front of more than 300 members of the Tucson community yesterday, Clint Bolick leaned in to his microphone and told the partisan crowd what most of them did not want to hear.
"I'm going to focus my comments on the practical side of what has come to be known as affirmative action," he said. "But what I refer to as preferential treatment."
A criminal case against Phoenix New Times fell apart Friday amid a crush of public outrage and admissions that a special county prosecutor made serious mistakes.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas dismissed all charges against the free weekly newspaper less than 24 hours after two New Times owners were arrested for publishing details of a grand-jury subpoena that demanded the Internet records of any person who had visited the newspaper's Web site since 2004.
Normally the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers comments on the policy positions of Arizona legislators, not federal judges.
But through his judicial decisions in recent years, U.S. District Judge Raner Collins has effectively appointed himself to the Arizona Legislature.
Indeed, Judge Collins has become a very powerful legislator, able to single-handedly mandate an appropriation of $150 million - more than 1 percent of the state's General Fund budget - in additional spending on English-language learner (ELL) programs.
Darcy A. Olsen
Title: President and CEO
Organization: Goldwater Institute
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The Supreme Court has had a working conservative majority for over a quarter-century, cemented by the appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. In that time, we've witnessed evolution, not revolution, with few precedents overturned.
Indeed, the Court under Chief Justice William Rehnquist strengthened the jurisprudential foundation of Roe v. Wade, even as it expanded the permissible scope of abortion restrictions. And it re-affirmed the Miranda decision, a prime example of Warren-era judicial legislation.
Judicial activism has become a universal pejorative, a rare point of agreement between red and blue America. Conservatives and liberals alike condemn courts for overturning policy decisions they support. Both sides would reduce the judiciary's constitutional scrutiny of the actions of other branches of government -- a role it exercises not too much but far too little.