Liberal critics often accuse the Rehnquist Court of being an activist court that overthrows precedents and allows its own will to trump that of legislatures. The latest data point on this question is in: check out Roper v. Simmons, a 5-4 decision by Justice Kennedy invalidating the use of the death penalty for juveniles, overruling the Court’s 1989 decision in Stanford v. Kentucky.
I’m heading off to teach a class; more commentary later when I have read the opinions (I did notice a heavy reliance on international law, though — see pages 22-24 of Kennedy’s opinion).
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