"Is it “judicial activism” to forbid the government from censoring a movie? This is not a trick question. Critics of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC have been calling it one of the worst examples of judicial activism in history. But Citizens United involved a law passed by Congress that prevented a nonprofit from making a film that criticized a candidate during an election. If that was not a law barred by the First Amendment, then it is hard to understand what “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech” means. Far from engaging in “judicial activism,” the Supreme Court in Citizens United practiced something courts should be doing every day: “judicial engagement.”"
Judicial Excuses - By Anthony Sanders
National Review Online:
