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5
10
blessing curse
Debate Score:15
Arguments:11
Total Votes:15
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 blessing (5)
 
 curse (6)

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judicial activism : blessing or curse ?

blessing

Side Score: 5
VS.

curse

Side Score: 10
1 point

I can't say that it's truly a "blessing", but to say that it's a curse is saying that it hasn't done any good...

Look to my dispute of David to see how Judicial Activism can sometimes be good (well, good is a subjective term, so I suppose it just comes down to your opinion... in that, if you believe that "the law is the law", of course judicial activism is a curse).

To me, i find it that more laws is a bad thing. Human beings shouldn't be restricted, especially in situations that only effect them, mostly. This can be drugs, prostitution, gambling, abortion (aw, you feel bad for the fetus? I forgot that you are the authoritative decider of what is human life and what isn't).

With all of these tyrannical laws (and there are a lot of them), it's important to get Supreme Courts to overview certain cases. Hell, Judicial Activism is what's keeping California from having control over who can buy video games, and what video games overstep their bounds (this has happened twice, including this year, I believe).

Did I mention that a man avoided being put in prison for having gay sex because of judicial activism?

Ideally, government would stop passing laws to restrict us more. Ideally, the Constitution would be amended over and over again, adding more liberties.

But this is reality, where we have a Supreme Court whom decide whether some of these restrictions are constitutional or not. Sometimes you're gonna disagree, sometimes you won't.

Side: blessing
3 points

Er, anyone can take anything and call it "activism".

Fox talks about laws with decades of judicial precedence as activism if it is against their weird neo-conservative fake Christian propaganda mentality.

The only real recent "activism" on a national level, that's activism as in no precedence and against the spirit of any reasonable interpretation of the constitution is the "corporations and make unlimited secret donations" bullshit ruling.

That was undeniably activism because it not only gives corporations the same rights as people (they're not people and shouldn't have people rights but okay), but it goes further and gives them more rights than people, since people are not allowed to make unlimited contributions.

So, yeah, the only real 100% obvious recent example of it in the U.S. is definitely a curse.

Side: curse
3 points

Judicial activism = Court decisions Neo-conservatives don't agree with.

Side: curse
ThePyg(6738) Disputed
1 point

I'm curious on your definition of "recent", because here are some examples of Judicial Activism along with the year it was done:

Brown vs. Board of Education - 1954; ruled that all public schools must be desegregated.

Roe v. Wade - 1973; ruled that abortion is an issue of women's privacy, and that a woman can not be denied her choice in whether she wishes to abort a baby or not.

Perry vs. Schwarzenegger - 2010; ruled that California could NOT ban same-sex marriage with a constitutional amendment. (same year as the "bullshit" decision to take away limitations on corporate political spending).

I think what you MEAN to say is that Judicial Activism is bad when you don't agree with it... or were my examples actually curses, as well.

Side: blessing
iamdavidh(4856) Disputed
1 point

No, I'd say those are not activism since there is clear precedent and constitutional support for each decision, whether you agree with them or not.

There is no precedent or constitutional support for my example.

Here, this is what I mean by not activism even though I would disagree with the ruling. If a court ruled that Freedom of Speach includes the Freedom to scream "Fire" in a crowded theatre I would disagree, but it would not be activism... for the reasons stated.

Side: curse

With the specific case of "Citizens United," judicial activism is a curse.

Side: curse